Palm Sunday

Mark 11:1-11

So here I am, a simple donkey. I’m minding my own business just standing here tied to a tree, trying to reach the grass on the other side. It looks so much greener over there! Well, the next thing I know, two guys approach and untie me. They try pulling me away, but I’m not very cooperative. You know how us donkeys are! Well, somehow all of my inhibitions are released and I am lost in the circumstance. Together we quest on to one of the most amazing adventures of my animal existence. I am somehow calm and comfortable.

The men gently guide me to a presence I have never, ever before experienced. I am humbled and honored somehow, and though I have never had a human on my back, I welcome the abrupt feel of coarse fabric on my torso, and the gentle weight of this man's body. Why? I am not certain, but am suddenly strong and proud.

He guides me down a dirt road covered in cloaks and branches. Though he doesn’t say a word, he seems to speak. People line the roadway and I hear chanting. “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” How did they know he would be coming, and why are they shouting to him? They know something I do not. I hear a woman’s quiet voice in the crowd refer to him as Jesus of Nazareth, and something about coming to save us.

As we reach the city and move past the crowds, in silence Jesus slips off of my back and tenderly strokes my head and ears. He intently heads toward the temple as the familiar men take me back to where they found me. I don’t want to go. I want to stay with this Jesus forever, but I oblige. Because of this experience, I will never be the same stubborn donkey I was. I don’t understand, but I am changed and I like it!