(A Covid-19 Crisis Palm Sunday at Home!)
There’s a story about the day after the first Palm Sunday. The donkey was still savoring the afterglow of the most exciting day of his life, so he decided to walk into town where he found a group by the well. “I’ll show myself to them,” he thought, but they didn’t take notice of him.
“Throw your cloaks down,” he said crossly. “Don’t you know who I am?” They just looked at him with amusement. Who is this? they laughed.
“Well,” he muttered to himself. “I’ll go to the market. Surely someone there will remember me.” But the same thing happened. No one noticed as he strutted down the street. “Where are the palm branches?” he shouted. “Yesterday you threw palms as I passed.” Hurt and confused, he returned home to his mother. “Silly donkey,” she said gently. Don’t you realize that without the Christ, you are just an ordinary donkey?
We should feel fairly confident that the two disciples Jesus sent were not looking for donkey duty, but imagined themselves a grander and nobler role, marching into the city alongside the “king” the prophets foretold. It’s deliciously ironic that on this very public and glorious day of Jesus’ ministry, they find themselves engaged in a most mundane and ordinary form of ministry, trying to wrestle a donkey and colt toward Jesus – and for all we know, cleaning up the mess, too.
Palm Sunday could have been the craziest, weirdest event in the life and ministry of Jesus. A 1st century Jew would have understood: God’s people had been awaiting the Messiah and knew the prophecies of how their king would come humbly with salvation. Jesus’ entry into the city was his answer to their question: Who is this?
Today’s lesson is not found in the questioning crowd, but in the donkey, particularly the colt never ridden. An unbroken animal is terrible to ride. It wants to throw off the rider. Yet this immature and untamed colt submitted to Jesus.
Aren’t we sometimes like that colt, prone to throw off opportunities to serve God? Yet, how crazy and weird that Jesus chooses us to carry his message of hope and peace to what can be a rebellious and untamed world.
The disciples could be like that. Earlier they argued over who would sit at the right and left of Jesus in his kingdom, and then 10 grew indignant with the two who thought themselves privileged. It would be no surprise to me if the two disciples sent on donkey duty were the same.
How crazy and weird is it that we are called sometimes to the most mundane and ordinary
duties – chores around the house, cleaning, doing dishes…but might this be our crazy and weird time to serve God by serving one another with our own kind of donkey duty?
I realize it is not flattering to be compared to a donkey. Just remember that after Andrew Jackson was called – let me put it politely – a “donkey”, he answered his critics by adopting the donkey as his political symbol that would come to signify hard work and humble service.
On this unique, unusual Palm Sunday, perhaps we can learn something from what the donkey can symbolize. Sometimes we are summoned to obey and serve our humble King in extraordinarily humble ways in extraordinary times.
Think again of mother donkey’s words: Silly donkey, don’t you realize that without the Christ, you are just an ordinary donkey? This Palm Sunday, we carry this truth: He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord transforms the ordinary. He can give us a new appreciation for ordinary tasks. We are finding creative ways to cook, eat and spend time together – even having fun doing it! We can organize closets, paint, do long-put-off projects, spend time on the phone with friends, or support local business (such as: order pizza for hospital staff) because that’s what the Lord needs of us right now – and through this we may find we have grown stronger and closer and more devoted together as family and as the family of God.
This is not a Palm Sunday for the silly donkey in us, unsettled by the absence of Hosannas and palms; instead, in this crazy, weird time in our lives, we remember who this is that has need of us to carry the burden of this moment with Him in prayer and devotion: to read, study and take quiet time; to step away from the news a little and breathe deeply the Spirit; take a leisurely walk or clean something; and make a list of our blessings as a gesture of gratitude to the humble Christ who has triumphantly come into our lives.
The Lord need us where we are, at this time, in the midst of our ordinary lives – at home or with abbreviated work schedules. He needs us to bear witness to him through our personal discipline and self-control through this time so that we will emerge on the other side of this stronger and better prepared to offer Christ’s hope; for we know who this is: He is the King who calls for us to be untied from anxiety and fear so that we may come to him ready to go down whatever road he wants to lead us. Hosanna in the highest!