Matthew 21:1-3a
21:1 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’

We know this story as Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, and we usually read it on Palm Sunday. All four gospels tell the story, but they each have some different details. Matthew and Mark speak of the crowds cutting leafy branches to spread on the road to make a path for Jesus; John mentions branches of palm; Luke describes the people spreading their cloaks on the road. All four mention a colt or a donkey or a donkey and a colt. Depending on which year it is, we might hear a gospel story on Palm Sunday with or without palms, but at least there will be a donkey or a colt (which might be a young donkey).

In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the Lord instructs the errand-running disciples to say, “The Lord has need of it,” if they are questioned. In all four gospel accounts, there are very few times that Jesus “needs” anything at all: In John 4, he asks a Samaritan woman for a drink of water; and in John 19, when he is on the cross, Jesus says, “I thirst.” Here, then, is the only time we really hear it said that Jesus “needs” anything - and it is in reference to this “young donkey” that is tied at the edge of the village.

Quite frankly, I think that’s where we are in the story. We are tied up and waiting --- and now the time has come to be untied because the Lord has need of us. Bernard of Clairvaux, a Christian Mystic, wrote in the early 12th century about being the poor beast, the donkey. He writes:

We know he cannot sing; … But he has something, all the same, that all the others lack; for to none other is the Lord so near. No, no(t) even those who keep close to His side have Him so close to them as has the beast whereon He sits; …. ... Let no one, therefore, think it an unworthy or small thing that he should be a riding-beast for Christ.

The Ass --- Bernard of Clairvaux 1090-1153 --- from Dominica Palmarum II --

If we want to think of this in contemporary terms, Shane Claiborne, a Christian activist, advocating nonviolence and service to the poor, says it best: “I am not a savior --- I’m just the ass he rode in on.” (As quoted in Jacqueline Bussie’s book, Love Without Limits)

A bit crude, you might say, but he definitely makes a point: Just as Jesus had instructed his disciples to say, “The Lord has need of it,” referring to the donkey that they were to go and get for Jesus, Jesus also has need of us; Jesus has need of you, Jesus has need of me. Think about it --- you are the vehicle by which Jesus might show up in a whole variety of places. You carry Jesus with you, wherever you go. And the Lord has need of you. And he has set you loose so that you might serve him by carrying him with you to the many different situations and experiences you encounter with other people. The Lord needs you; the Lord needs me; the Lord needs us. Not very often are we told the Lord needs anything….and yet, that’s what we hear today.

And in all open honesty, I think we need to be needed. The Lord needs us, and by needing us, gives us purpose and meaning in our lives. We have a need to sing God’s praises, to worship God and thank God. We have a purpose - to carry Jesus into a broken world that is filled with people whose lives are broken. Let us be the vehicle by which others may come to know Jesus and the saving love he brings.

The Donkey