At church this morning, we celebrated Palm Sunday, which commemorates
Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey that had never been ridden.
The
pastor made three points that really stood out to me. First of all,
the pastor said that the crowds welcomed Jesus on Palm Sunday, yet they
were calling for Jesus' crucifixion a few days later. The pastor asked
us if we are consistent in how we feel about Jesus----will we feel the
same about Jesus tomorrow as what we feel about Jesus today? Second,
the pastor noted that Jesus rode on a donkey that had never been
ridden. The pastor was saying that this was miraculous, since it is
hard to ride an animal that has never been ridden before----or at least
it's hard to ride that animal smoothly! Third, the pastor was noting
that some of the Pharisees were criticizing all of the rejoicing that
was occurring as Jesus rode into Jerusalem. The pastor said that was
should rejoice rather than being negative and dour.
The pastor's
second point----about Jesus riding a donkey that had never been
ridden----resonated with me on account of something that a Christian
lady told me years ago. I asked her why she believed that Jesus was the
Messiah, since I was struggling with that issue, having heard Jewish
arguments against the idea. She did not respond with the usual
Christian apologetic spiel----that Jesus fulfilled hundreds of
prophecies, the empty tomb was historical, etc. She may have said that
the change in the disciples from fearful to courageous was one factor
that convinced her that Jesus was the Messiah, but, overall, she was not
giving me some elaborate apologetic spiel that would require me to
believe her way, or else. Rather, she talked about what she believed
that Jesus had done in her life----that she met her husband, when
neither she nor he prior to meeting each other had dated that much; and
that her grandmother lived long enough to see her become a teacher. But
the lady also mentioned the donkey who had never been ridden. She said
that Jesus must have had a gentle, loving personality to convince that
animal to trust him. She then said that it's the little things that
convince her that Jesus is the Messiah.
This,
in my opinion, overlaps with and reinforces my pastor's other two
points. How would I consistently love Jesus, rather than waffling in my
feelings about him? I would do so if I saw Jesus as loving and gentle,
as he was with that donkey who had never been ridden. And what would
convince those critical Pharisees (not that all Pharisees were critical,
but some were) to rejoice rather than being dour? Perhaps an
appreciation of Jesus' love and gentleness would have encouraged them to
rejoice----they wouldn't need to worry about Jesus infringing on their
power and influence, for why crave power and influence to feed one's
soul, when one has God's love?
I realize
that there are more factors at play: the Pharisees may have feared that
the rejoicing crowd would get the attention of the Romans, who wouldn't
like a Messianic uprising on the Passover; the people who rejoiced about
Jesus may not have been the same as those who called for his
crucifixion; Jesus doesn't always appear gentle (though, even then, I'd
say that he was nicer than the Christians who act as jerks then claim
that they're merely following Jesus' example), etc. But my pastor and
that Christian lady still made edifying points.