Like The Submissive Donkey

Uplook – March 2010 – Grace & Truth Magazine

A THOUGHT IN PREPARATION FOR EASTER

Like The Submissive Donkey

“Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here.” Luke 19:30 NKJV

What was the difference between this donkey and the intelligent religious leaders of Israel of that day? The donkey submitted to the will of God and the religious leaders rejected and crucified the Lord. The donkey was used by the Lord to make His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The religious Pharisees rejected their Messiah and destroyed their nation. Because of them, Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD . They were more worried about their own political careers than they were about doing right.

The Pharisees who knew their Bibles missed the fact that when the Lord made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, He was fulfilling the prophesy of Daniel 9:26 to the day. In Luke 19:42, as He wept over Jerusalem, the Lord said: “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” And on that very day, the end of the 69 weeks of Daniel 9 was being fulfilled, and after that the Messiah was crucified or cut off.

In the Bible, Christ tells us that “the stones would immediately cry out” when the truth is suppressed (Lk. 19:40). He also tells us that chickens are smart enough to provide safety for their brood (Mt. 23:37), but people who have religion instead of Christ are blind and useless. The Pharisees didn’t care that the Lord was innocent, that He did nothing but good, and that He fulfilled the prophetic Scriptures. They were envious of His popularity (Mt. 27:18) and wanted Him out of their way. Most of creation seems more responsive to the will of God than “intelligent” humans, who are God’s crowning achievement in creation.

The King James Version of Mark 11:4 tells us that this little donkey was tied “outside in a place where two ways met.” The Greek here seems to imply that there was a fork in the road where this little colt was tied. I believe we all come to a fork in the road where we have to decide whether we are going to be smart like this “dumb” donkey or dumb like those “smart” Pharisees. Are we going to be simple enough to submit to the will of God or so smart that we are going to tell God how to do His work?

We meet that fork when we are confronted with our sin and with the truth that the only way to be cleansed is through faith in the blood of Christ. Then after we are saved, we often come to that fork again and again as we are confronted with the need to be obedient to the will of God. We have to decide again and again whether to submit like the donkey or be self-willed like the religious Jews.

I suspect that when all is said and done, we all act more like Pharisees at times than we do like the submissive donkey. Wouldn’t it be better if we were a little less like the Pharisees and a little more like the donkey? Maybe then we could be used to glorify Him in some way.

“Rejoice greatly ... Shout ... Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Zechariah 9:9

By Bruce Collins