Saturday, April 8, 2017
Matthew 21:5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.'"
THE DONKEY AND THE CROSS
Did you know that most donkeys have a cross on their backs? Most, if not all, donkeys have a narrow strip of hair that runs down their backs and across each of their shoulders in a darker shade than the rest of their coat. This naturally makes the shape of a cross.
On Palm Sunday Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Did Jesus' donkey have the shape of a cross on its back? We don't know, and it really doesn't matter. But what does matter is that the donkey did have on its back the One Who would soon be nailed to a cross. Jesus rode on a donkey into town for the purpose of going to the cross to pay for the sins of the world. The simple and beautiful truth of Palm Sunday is that the Son of God rode into Jerusalem to die for a world in rebellion against Him!
Tomorrow as we sing our "hosannas" and listen to God's Word, let it be with a reawakened sense of our own personal sin, but also with a renewed awe over God's indescribable love for us poor sinners. And, as the shape of a cross is there on the back of a donkey for all to see, may God give us boldness to display the cross in our words and actions before a lost and fallen world.
Ride on, ride on, in majesty!
In lowly pomp ride on to die.
O Christ, Thy triumphs now begin
O'er captive death and conquered sin.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 162:2)
