The Lord Needs It

I keep thinking about the colt. The donkey’s colt that Jesus “commandeered” for His ride into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Luke spends a precious half-dozen verses of Scripture on the incident, and it raises two questions in my mind:

1. Why did Jesus choose such a lowly beast?
I’m surprised to learn that the donkey was actually preferred over the horse by the royalty of ancient times. The horse was a symbol of war; the donkey a sign of peace.* The message, then, was this: I am coming as a King, but don’t think I ride in to instigate an uprising against Roman rule. I am a King of peace.” In fact, Jesus lamented as He approached the city, “Oh Jerusalem, if only you had known what would bring you peace…” but He knew their rejection was imminent.


2. Why this colt?
The selection seems:

 Random. Jesus had made no previous arrangements. He didn’t appear to be acquainted with the owner. His instructions appeared risky: “untie it and bring it here, and if anyone asks, ‘What are you doing?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” What owner would go for that?
 Wrong. The colt was unsuitable. He’d never been trained. Now he was to have garments thrown over him (sure to spook a nervous novice) and someone set upon his back. Then he will be ridden through a gauntlet of cheering, palm-waving people, as people hurry on ahead to spread clothing that he must step on.

Maybe there’s a deep theological explanation for Jesus’ choice… or maybe it’s just that Jesus seems to prefer raw material anyway. He had nothing at all to work with when He created the universe! And He was continually picking out the insignificant, the insufficient, the untrained… (“not many wise, not many mighty, not many of noble birth,” as the apostle Paul later wrote) to accomplish His work.

When choosing His disciples, He didn’t scour Galilee for young scholars dubbed “most likely to succeed,” or target devout God-seekers who frequented the temple. When feeding the 5,000 He didn’t cause manna to fall from heaven or quail to conveniently descend. When teaching the economics of the Kingdom, He didn’t conduct a tour of the temple treasury.

He started with the unlikely. Untaught fishermen. Fives loaves and two small fishes. Two “pennies” in a widow’s hand. An unbroken colt.

I think a lot of times Jesus works so quietly, so low-key today that we miss the wonder of what He’s doing. In our lives, in the lives of those around us, in our ministries, in our world. This is a good week to stop and remember that Jesus gravitates toward the insignificant, the unlikely, the unsuitable. He’s been making something out of nothing for a long time.

So whatever He asks for, give Him - and just keep waving that palm branch!


*New Bible Dictionary