My one close encounter with donkeys was not particularly happy. At about age 16 I joined with other Boy Scouts in a trek through New Mexico’s Philmont Scout Ranch. Part of the journey included a day of using burros, small donkeys, to pack our food and part of our gear over the trails we were hiking.
Despite the pleasure of having a little weight off my own back, I found the burros to be more trouble than the benefit they provided. They stank (I wasn’t about to let my sleeping bag join the pile on a smelly animal’s back). They kicked. They didn’t like be harnessed or packed or led anywhere they didn’t feel like going. We pulled and cursed these stupid creatures up and over a pass until we were able to unload and gladly turn them over to their keepers at another corral. On top of it all, one of the critters grabbed my hat off my head and began to munch it.
So my image of the Palm Sunday parade, with Jesus riding not only a donkey, but a young, untamed, unridden animal, is not all that romantic or impressive given my experience. I’d rather walk than ride a beast like that. Which means to me that what the first Gospel describes in Matthew 21:1-11, is perhaps more impressive than superficial impressions suggest. For Jesus to somehow transform a donkey ride into a grand processional during which He was hailed as a king, is itself a kind of miracle.
Part of the miracle lies in the fact that the donkey colt submitted so apparently well to first being saddled with the disciples’ cloaks and then to carrying its first rider. No need to break the animal, no indication of any willfulness on its part at all, except to perform what the Lord asked of it.
I wonder how willing you and I are to let Jesus perform that sort of miracle with us? How accepting are we of His purpose and direction day to day and over the course of our lives? How often do we buck and rear and kick against His gentle desire to be seated in a place of honor over us and guide us where He chooses? This Sunday may we all learn a little from the donkey about being available to our Lord.