THE HONORED DONKEY

It is Palm Sunday 2012 and I am thinking about that Donkey that our Lord rode into Jerusalem. In the midst of that great horde, men women and even animals; one being was the most critical – apart from our Lord; he is the one I have chosen to call The Honored Donkey.

Starting With The Donkey:

No animal has ever been so honored since the Universe began. The whole city got out and whether you like him or you hated him; everyone linked with the Donkey and the person sitting on his back. I want us to think about the donkey in Jewish context and see the glory of the Lord in this story.

The Ultimate Impure Animal:

Jewish teachers call the donkey the Ultimate Unclean Animal. This is because the are both non-ruminants and have non-cloven hoofed. On two counts, they are not worthy of any attention But the Lord chooses to use that which is doubly disqualified and that which is counted as many as unclean to come into the space of praise. In this the Lord is giving us a parable: We are not to call unclean what he the Lord has called clean (Acts 10:9-16).

Even the Unclean Has Their Redemptive Value:

There is an interesting instruction in the Book of the Law about the Honored Donkey. Exodus 13:13 and 34:20 gave a specific instruction that places the firstborn of the Donkey – a doubly Unclean animal on the same level with the firstborn of man and clean lambs.

Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.

Why did God place a redemptive value on that patently and doubly unclean? I believe it is to say to our world that Nothing, No One; is beyond Redemption. There is a cry in the heart of the King who died for the World that “I want it ALL, I want it ALL!” This cry is true today as it was at the beginning of ages when God laid out the Foundations of the earth. ALL CAN BE REDEEMED… Including YOU!

ALL Have a Use!

There is a Day that Heaven has Chosen when each of us will be the most critical being on the face of the earth. The Lord said to his disciples in Mathew 21³

“If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

Like this Donkey, there is a day when God have chosen to say to His World about each one of us: You ARE NEEDED! You are IMPORTANT! You are CRITICAL to my Scheme of things. Look at Zechariah 9:9,

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

The Scriptures could not have been fulfilled without our honored Donkey. It was a matter that God through had programmed into the Design of the Universe. One day, the Messiah must ride on the Donkey. There is a Day of God’s Manifestation that has been programed into each of our lives. There is a day that God cannot be glorified without our involvement. What an Honor! That the Lord Indeed Needs Us! Will you believe this?