Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this. ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately." This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet….
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting:
‘Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!’
(from New Revised Standard)
A ruler would normally enter a city in some state. Pontius Pilate, for example at this time entered Jerusalem for the Passover accompanied by his soldiers. When a king came into a city after a victorious battle he would ride on a white horse. Sometimes a king would enter on a donkey, to symbolise that he came in peace. Jesus came into the city on a donkey and with a colt, to demonstrate that God’s kingdom was one of love and peace.
We all know stories of men or women throughout history who were humble. For me such a person was Nelson Mandela. He came to London together with President F.W. de Klerk when South Africa became a united country around the time they were both awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. A service was held in Westminster Abbey and Mandela went to shake hands with a chorister at the end of the service, but suddenly pulled back his hand and said “Do you a white boy mind shaking my hand.” Needless to say the boys were astounded that this great man whom they had heard so much about should imagine that they wouldn’t want to shake his hand!
Two thousand years ago those watching the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem would have known the significance of what they were seeing for Zechariah had prophesied that the Messiah would come ‘humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ (Zech 9.9) The difference between this action and that of Nelson Mandela is that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, fully human and fully God, entering God’s Holy City of Jerusalem, knowing that He was innocent but was coming to die for the sins of humanity.
Heavenly Father,
we give you thanks that your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ,
in all humility came to His own people
that they might be redeemed from sin
and brought back into your loving care.
As we celebrate Palm Sunday we remember
the great sacrifice that He was about to make for us.
Amen.