What I Wore Sunday - Palm Sunday

Fuzzy Picture...

You've seen it all before, my friends, except for the skirt, which I got in a giant bag of clothing (for only $10) from the thrift store!  I love it and it's tweedy goodness.

And some not so fuzzy Biblical close reading...

The sermon today talked about Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem, and I discovered that Jesus didn't ride into the city on just a donkey, but the colt of a donkey.  A baby donkey.  A full grown man, a 'famous' miracle worker riding into the holy city for passover on the colt of a donkey - that's humility in action.

I kept thinking back again to that baby donkey all afternoon, and tonight (I'm very late to the link-up) I thought I'd share what I discovered in my mini Bible study.

First, the gospel accounts (for ease, I'm using the KJV):

Matthew's gospel reads:

"And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her:  loose them, and bring them unto me.  And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.  All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.  And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.  And a very great multitute spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strowed them in the way.  And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David:  Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.  And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?  And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee." (Ch. 21: 1-11)

Mark's gospel reads:

"And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples, And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him.  And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this?  say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.  And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him.  And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt?  And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go.  And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him.  ANd many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strowed them in the way.  And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna:  Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:  Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord:  Hosanna in the highest.  And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve." (Ch. 11: 1-11)

Luke's gospel reads:

And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem. And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither.  And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him.  And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them.  And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt?  And they said, The Lord hath need of him.  And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.  And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way.  And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. (Ch. 19: 28-38)

John's gospel reads:

On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.  (Ch. 12: 12-15)

There are some major, glaring similarities between these accounts, enough to write a hundred sermons and another hundred bible studies, I'm sure.  Probably more.  But I'm going to focus on that donkey everyone is talking about.  In Matthew, there's a female ass and her colt and the disciples take both, and at first it seems a little fuzzy on which one specifically Jesus is riding since both have clothing on them, and he is simply described as "sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass".  (In the other three gospels, however, the mother isn't mentioned, and Jesus is simply riding on the colt.)  However, in both Matthew and John, a prophecy is mentioned, that the king will arrive in Jerusalem astride a donkey, and I found this prophecy in Zechariah 9:9, which reads "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."  To me this prophecy read more like 'he's riding on a donkey; a baby donkey'.  Rather than implying that he is riding on both, or either the mother or the colt.

All this is to say, Jesus is on a small, clearly baby donkey, to show his meekness and his fulfillment of the old testament prophecy.  Imagine for a minute what this looks like.  The donkey is definately not fully grown, that's clearly stated, and a grown man is riding it, on a roadway strewn with branches and leaves, with his animal covered in clothing.  I think the image we get from this is one of great humility.  This is not the conquering hero on a stallion, but a meek king entering a city.  He is a different kind of king, a king who has never been seen before.  And look how the people adore him!  The hosannas, the cheers, the branches, the declarations that he is a prophet, the son of David.  The people certainly don't seem to mind that his ride is a baby donkey.  But the image is clear - here is a man who is humble.

Now, to the Greek.  I'm going to be super concise because this post has already gone on too long and I'm surprised if you're still reading.  In Matthew, the words used for donkey and colt are olon and polon.  In Mark, Luke and John, polon is used again.  In Zechariah the Hebrew word is ayir, the colt or foal of a donkey.

The gospels match in their translations of polon, and Zechariah also seems to back that up in Hebrew.  This is just me being terribly nerdy - I like to check the original text.

Anyway, the humility of Jesus on this occasion really spoke to me, and the mini study I did this evening, despite resulting in a lot of computer time and bibles and commentaries scattered around the livingroom and dining room and my husband repeatedly asking me "WHAT are you doing?" was fun.  I don't do this enough.

Okay, now seriously, go read the other ladies at Fine Linen and Purple.