Palm Sunday was celebrated this year on April 2, 2023. Palm Sunday is the day during the Easter Season that Christians remember and commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem…riding on a donkey!
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Note: In the ancient Middle Eastern world, leaders rode horses if they rode to war, but donkeys if they came in peace (1 Kings 1:33). The mention of a donkey in Zechariah 9:9-10 fits the description of a king who would be “righteous and having salvation, gentle.” Rather than riding to conquer, this king would enter in peace. Zechariah 9:10 highlights this peace: “I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Before Jesus entered the city, He told his disciples,
“Go into the village over there,” He said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.” (Matthew 21: 2-3 NLT).
The Bible says Jesus rode in on a donkey while the people of the city lined the streets, laid their coats on the ground for people to walk on, waved palm branches, and celebrated His coming.
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Jesus decided to use the donkey. The donkey was not necessary to Jesus’ entrance. He could have walked or rode a camel, but Jesus desired to use the donkey.
It would have been a grave mistake for the donkey to think all the honor and celebration was for it.
Yet, how often do WE do this"? We accept praise on God’s behalf. We believe God needed to use us because of our great talents or abilities. We think that our personal contributions to God’s plan deserve recognition.
The fact is Jesus had several reasons for choosing the donkey—it was an act of humility and it was symbolic, of course. However, none of the reasons had to do with the donkey’s great ability at being a donkey. We need to remember that we are the donkeys in God’s story. God doesn’t use us because He has to, or because we are so great. God uses us because He wants us to experience something bigger than ourselves that we might understand our humble relation to His great power.
When we better understand our relation to the Almighty God, we realize we have no right to feel prideful or have an unrealistic sense of self-importance. When we are humble in front of the Lord, it becomes easier to be humble in service to one another. Most importantly, when we realize that all good things are God working through us and not anything we can do out of our own personal abilities, we do not feel the need to get thanks for every little thing we do. Thank you’s become a blessing and not a necessity.
This Easter season consider the idea that God does not need you to accomplish His plan, but He wants to use you…What a humbling thought!
Remember everything we do is to bring glory to Him, not ourselves. We don’t deserve any personal praise or accolades, but we are blessed any time God has chosen to do His good and perfect will through us. May we all remember to be humble in our perspective to God and others. We are lowly (but blessed) donkeys. Don’t make the mistake that the party is all for you!
- Unknown
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Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9 ESV
…news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said: “Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem. Look your King is coming, riding on a donkey’s colt.” His disciples didn’t understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. But after Jesus entered into His glory, they remembered what had happened and realized that these things had been written about Him. John 12:12-15 NLT