Riding a Donkey of Peace

Psalm 118:19-29; Mark 11:7-11; John 12:12-16

Rev. Chris Harbin, Central Baptist Church—Lowesville, VA

05 April 2009, Palm Sunday

He entered in peace. That was the message inherent in riding a donkey. The crowds were prepared to understand that. They were ready to hail Jesus as Messiah, as king. They were willing to accept his arrival in peace. That much they understood. That much they could grasp.

A conquering king rode on the back of a horse. Horses were the military mode of travel. They were also weapons of war. The back of a donkey was a far different thing. Taking a donkey to battle would be giving the enemy an unfair advantage. Taking a donkey into battle would require attending to the donkey, rather than the enemy. The donkey was how a king rode in peace. It was a gesture of love. That much they understood. What they did not understand was how Jesus would offer that peace.

Perhaps they understood peace as coming through some divine intervention. Jesus would by some miracle cast out the occupying Roman armies and establish a treaty of peace with the hated empire. They understood peace in military terms. That was really the only kind of peace they did understand. They were limited in their grasp of how nations could live at peace, having known war and of intimidation as the only avenues to peace. Such peace, however, had always been tenuous at best. It was only as lasting as one's weaponry and defense systems were effective deterrents against foreign invaders of internal power struggles. What else could Jesus mean by this symbol of brining peace?

Symbols, after all, are only as good as their ability to communicate. One might develop a wonderful new symbol, but if its message is not understood, it remains meaningless. John recognized that there was more to the symbol than was apparent at the moment of Jesus' ride. It would only be after the close of the week in Jerusalem that Jesus' message would come clear. It would be in retrospect that the image of Jesus' entry on a donkey would make sense as he intended it.

Jesus was always teaching. His actions had purpose, and they were calling the disciples and those of the crowd who would learn to grasp the deeper realities of the good news. He entered Jerusalem in peace. He would be ushered out at peace with the anger and rejection of the religious community and the fickle crowds who now acclaimed him king.

Jesus rode into town bringing peace in the symbol of riding a donkey. A week later, he would be dragged outside the town walls to offer peace on the symbol of a cross. Peace was ever the message. It had ever been God's message through the prophets. If Israel would turn from their sin and rejection of God, God was willing to offer reconciliation and peace. The issue at hand was whether Israel were willing to bow in repentance and accept peace with God on God's terms.

They wanted God's blessings as long as they could remain in control. They wanted the ouster of the roman armies. They wanted the rewards of peace with their neighbors, but they did not want to bow in submission to God and accept the path of love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness. They were enamored with the idea of power and refused to let go to receive peace with God.

They still had not understood that Jesus was God, Yahweh come in flesh and blood to redeem the people called after his name. They did not identify Jesus' way of love and grace with God's attitude to receiving a repentant people. They were not ready to accept their need to bow in humility before God.

It was not really peace they wanted. It was the power of self-determination, independence, and a life of material prosperity. Peace demanded a higher price than they were willing to pay. It would make no demands on those external circumstances of life—the relationships between people and nations vying for power. True peace, rather, would focus on finding rest in God's provision despite life's external circumstances.

Riding a donkey of peace into Jerusalem was an emblem of God's disposition toward a people who continued to reject the designs of the gospel. It was one step in clarifying the issues laid before the people. God rode into Jerusalem offering peace, forgiveness, grace, mercy, and love. At the outset, the crowds hailed Jesus in emotional ecstasy. What would happen to that response over the course of the week?

John proceeds in his account of Jesus almost directly from the entry on a donkey to preparing the Twelve for his impending death. He instructs them in regard to the gospel definition of service as the avenue and character of greatness. He speaks of offering grace instead of judgment. He speaks of love as the summary commandment and character of gospel living. He speaks of being joined with God and living in intimate relationship with the Almighty. He speaks of living together as his representatives and united as Jesus with the Father.

This is the way of peace. This is living the peace announced from the back of a beast of burden. It is not about throwing off oppression, injustice, and those who wield power over us. It is the peace and assurance to live through oppression, injustice, and the hostility of our enemies. It is the peace to find in God the strength to stand and offer love, grace, and forgiveness that spring from God's presence within our lives.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem in peace. He offered grace, love, and mercy. He asked only for repentance and submission to God's way of living. He was met by crowds who at first hailed, then dragged him out to be nailed on a cross. They were so wrong to deny him with the use of such violence. They were so wrong to reject God's offer of love, grace, and mercy. They were so wrong to murder the one who offered life and peace with God. The question, however, is what we would do with Jesus in our own midst.

It is one thing to hail him as Lord and go on with out lives in the pursuit of our own dreams for personal fulfillment and blessing. It is simply to go about our lives and seek Christ at our convenience for one blessing or another. It is tempting to claim Christ Jesus as Lord and King of our eternity, yet live as though we were masters of our own lives during the course of life on earth. It is easy to hail him as king for our purposes and to accomplish our objectives. It is quite another to accept him as king on his own terms.

What will we do with Christ Jesus? He entered in peace, asking Israel to simply repent and give action to their lip-service of honoring God. He called them to submission. He called them to honor God as king, willing to submit their will and direction to his gospel of love and grace.

Are we willing to hail Christ on his terms? Are we ready to repent of our broken relationships, our desires to advance our causes at the expense of others? Are we ready to repent of our failure to follow Christ into Jerusalem and all the way to the cross? That is the path of true peace.

—©2009 Christopher B. Harbin

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