Or throw away a letter without even opening it? Or - have you ever walked by a sign - or by something in your house - -

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1 1 A Donkey With Horsepower Zechariah 9:9-10; Mark 14:1-15 Rev. David Hutchinson Sunday, March 29, 2015 Did you ever - - delete an - - without reading it? Or throw away a letter without even opening it? Or - have you ever walked by a sign - or by something in your house over and over and over again - - and not really - ever noticed it - - until BOOM - - all of a sudden - it hit you!: Oh look at that?! The donkey is like that. The donkey - - that Jesus was riding on is like that. The donkey - - has a message - - that goes DEEPER than I first thought. Have you ever really - - read up - on donkeys? If you got a long - - about donkeys - - would you delete it? Would you consider a glossy - donkey magazine - that arrived free in your mailbox - - to be junk mail - - and throw it away? Because - - after all - - you ve heard this story about Jesus and the donkey so many times anyway... It IS a GREAT image though - - Jesus on a donkey. And it s powerful - - even at face value - - BUT - - haven t we figured it out by now? : The donkey is HUMBLE - - and so Jesus is humble. He came NOT as a warrior on a STALLION - - but in humility. / And in doing that - - Jesus identifies with our lowliness - - and calls us to humility. / Jesus is a different kind of KING. / One who is humble. That s IT - - Right?

2 2 Guess what - - that only scratches the surface. For me - - the donkey quest - - began when I tried to come up with - - a MODERN DAY - equivalent of a donkey. What would Jesus ride today? I thought of a TRICYCLE. / It s humble. / A little humiliating for an adult to ride - - because it is designed for a child. / And - - Jesus said we should enter the kingdom of God - - like a child. So. hmmm. Ok: tricycle. I also remembered the movie, The Straight Story a movie about an old man who rides his LAWNMOWER across Iowa. / He does this in order to visit his brother - - who he hasn t seen in years - - and with whom he has had a falling out. / His driver s license was taken away - - but he could have gotten a ride with his daughter. / Instead he chose to ride the lawnmower. / Maybe as penance - - for his argument with his brother. Both of these - - tricycle and lawnmower - - are HUMBLE images. But there s MORE to the donkey - - than humble. Who ELSE rode donkeys? Well way back in the history of Israel in the times of the Judges - - the times of TRIBES - - before there were kings in Israel kings of the kind that DAVID and SOLOMON tried to be anyway - - back then - - important people rode donkeys. In the 10th chapter of the book of Judges - - we can read about a man named Ja ir - - who Judged Israel (which means he lead Israel - sort of like a king would do but NOT) - - Ja ir had 30 sons - all of whom rode donkeys. That means - he was really important. King Saul - - is also associated with donkeys.

3 3 In fact - - in Ancient Israel - - the kind of kingship that is considered legitimate - - and is charismatic - - and is hereditary is symbolized by a person riding on a donkey. / A donkey: NOW that s kingship. A KING - - on the other hand - - was someone who conquered in war - - and took over a place - and made himself king. / An oppressor! A person - - who - - rode a stallion. / A horse. The old Israelite tradition saw that kind of military rule as tyranny! The Israelite tradition honored the office of kingship - - which was filled by someone who was wise - - and identified with the people - - and who was FAMILY. / And who rode a donkey - - not a horse. Horses - were introduced into Israel - much later. King David - - was the TRANSITION - - between the OLD idea of kingship - - into the new model - - which Israel eventually embraced - - where the king was a conquer-er. David - the transition person between donkey and horse - - rode a MULE. (1 Kings chapter 1) A mule - - is a crossbreed - - of a horse and a donkey. And Solomon - - when he was anointed king after David - - rode on a MULE. / A sort of humble beast. / And kings were ANOINTED - - like Jesus is anointed - - by the woman with the ointment. Riding on a donkey - - or a mule - - and anointing - - signified the presentation of a new leader. / The beginning of a new reign. So you see - Kings in Israel rode donkeys - - all the time. It was symbolic - - and people KNEW what it meant.

4 4 When we read in Mark s gospel - - go get a COLT on which NO ONE has ever SAT before - - that means it was for a special purpose. / People s ears would have perked up. And - - in Zechariah - - in the Old Testament reading for today - - we heard an OLD prophecy - - which Israelites would have KNOWN - - and HOPED for - - and WAITED for - - that a king would come to Israel - - riding on a donkey. SO - - when Jesus chose - - or when God chose - - a donkey - - or a colt to carry Jesus in that parade it was to say - - here - - IS - - the KING. So - - would a modern day Jesus ride a TANK - - after all? Well - - not exactly - - because a tank would be more like a stallion. But it would NOT be a lawnmower or a tricycle. Jesus was in the middle of a great act - - of political theater. And he is saying - - I AM - your king. But I am king - in the OLD tradition. The kind of king you had way back when - - before kings - - like the kind we HAVE today. / Kings that are FAMILY with you. / More like the JUDGES - but in a new way. Because NOW - - I will EXTEND - - that connection - - to transcend heredity. Gentiles and Greeks are welcome too. We will all somehow be one. I m the kind of king that is - like no other - - And sort of - - a king - more - in that old tradition of ancient Israel - - You see - - ONE of the KEY distinctions - - between the OLD idea OF kingship - - and the NEWER one was: The old model didn t do the conquering thing - with horses.

5 5 Instead - - the one who rode a donkey - - was a wise - - judge - - and protector of the common people. But no less a king. And in no way despised - - nor rejected. Frankly NOT all that HUMBLE! The despising and rejecting - - that came - - from soldiers in the Roman army - - who had a DIFFERENT image of king. / And - - IRONICALLY - - when THEY called him king - - and mocked Jesus - - with the purple robe - and crown of thorns THEY were the ones who come closest to getting it RIGHT! Except for the fact - - that they had NO concept of donkey. No memory of donkeys. And the ones who DO - - that is the Israelites they seem to miss it. Because - - how could someone who is executed - - be a king? How could someone on a CROSS - - be a KING??? Even - - a king of the old - - more compassionate kind? SO as I wonder about all that I wonder if WE aren t similar. As Christians - - we have an image of a KINDER - - more EQUAL - - society. / We place VALUE on different things - - than the VIOLENT - - CONSUMER oriented society around us. Or do we? Do we - - shy away from saying - - it IS better. Are we PROUD - - of our HUMBLE vision? Or - - are we ashamed - - of how it feels - - next to our neighbor s fancy new RV - - and the BULLY at our son s school? So we REALLY want revenge!

6 6 What would Jesus ride today? Maybe something like - - a steam-train - - coming into a station of a small town - - while he stood near the railing on the last car - - in a stovepipe hat. / A leader of a different kind - - a legendary cultural hero named Lincoln - - in Gettysburg. Maybe Well - - that s just one example. Remember when President Clinton tore a ligament in his knee? / The donkey might be a little like - - a WHEELCHAIR - - with Clinton riding in it - - in order to bring back our MEMORIES - - of FDR. / FDR - - in a humble wheelchair - - but who was a STRONG leader. A different kind of leader. One who the nation RESPECTED. / / You don t think Clinton thought of FDR when he got in that wheelchair!?! It s political theater! Question is: Did it work for Jesus? Or do we miss it? And if we GET it what exactly does it mean? To me - - it means - - that Jesus IS with us - - in all the humble places in our lives. / And Jesus does - call us to humility - - and love - - and more equality AND - to economic justice AND away from violence - - and sin - - and evil and Jesus makes WHOLE - - what is BROKEN in our world and Jesus DOES it NOT by succeeding in the world s terms AND - - that s not all - -

7 7 Salvation is not just something - to be thankful for - - and to cling to - - in the midst of a sinful world. / It is a way of LIFE. / To be lived - - and told - - and proclaimed. It s humility to be BOLD about! Sometimes we ARE called to question the way things go in the world. Faith was NOT tangential - to - a conversation about how to seek justice in a world of oppression. And it s OK - that people outside the church - don t always GET it. That some people think you re WEIRD for being Christian. You ARE! And NOT in the Bible-thumping - - blow-dried hair- - patent leather Bible - - show me the money - - kind of weird. Weird - - in a humble - strong - different sort of way - - weird. And that s ok. It s MORE than ok. / It s fantastic! Jesus plunked himself down - - right in the middle of the power of his day - - and rode a donkey - - and said - - I m going to do it differently. I m going to take on all this power - - and change the injustice - by being humble. And there was GREAT power in that. In this story Jesus had NOT gotten to the point of TURNING over the tables in the temple. / Not yet. / He just went in and looked around. / That s what it says in verse 11. / And then he went out into the night to think about it. / But he HAD BEEN there He was IN Jerusalem - - the city of power - - at the end of his journey.

8 8 Sometimes - - by simply BEING in a place - - and taking on the UNJUST violence of others - - you change their minds. / And the minds of the world. / That s power. / Power of a different kind. It s hard to COERCE a sinner - - to repent. But by stooping down - - Jesus transcends that power. Jesus transcends - the power - - of whatever SIN is - - in your life. Think about your life for a minute - - and Jesus power. Think about the power of - - whatever you see - - in the world something you would call sin. That power is NOTHING - - compared to Jesus power. And THAT power simply put is the power of the donkey. Amen.