Jesus’s Young Donkey

Two nights ago, I watched Robson Green’s visit to central Australia, where they were rounding up wild camels from the wilderness for profit. In the late 1800s, camels were imported from Arabia to help build the railways and released after their work was done. The people assumed they would die in that hot and arid climate, but instead, they thrived. Now, more camels are in Australia than the middle east, and Saudi Arabia imports them for their milk, meat, and breeding.

Just as Australia having camels might be a surprise, so is Jesus owning a young donkey – a colt (male) or a filly (female). As they left Jericho and entered the district of Mt. of Olives, near the villages of Bethpage and Bethany, Jesus said to two of his disciples:

“You go into that village right in front of you. As soon as you enter it, you’ll find a young donkey tied. No one has ever sat on it. You free it and bring it to me. If anyone asks, ‘Why are you doing this?’ You say, ‘Its master needs it.’ Immediately, they will send it here.” (Mark 11:1–3)

The Greek phrase – o kurios autou – must be translated as “its master.” It shouldn’t surprise us that Jesus had a young donkey. Most peasants had donkeys to harvest fields, transport, and carry tools (in Joseph’s case – his technical tools).

As instructed, the disciples went, untied the young donkey, faced objections, answered, and returned with the donkey. When they brought it to Jesus, they laid clothes on it, like putting a saddle on, and Jesus sat on the young donkey. Seeing that, many cast their garments on the way, while others threw in branches of plants from the fields (11:4–8). Then, they began their march into Jerusalem – where he would be handed over, tried, and killed.

As they marched, they sang Psalm 117, a psalm of assurance and praise. The psalm begins and ends with “praise the Lord” (v. 1, 29). In between, the psalmist declares his trust in YHWH amid suffering:

YHWH is with me. I will not fear.

What can people do to me?

YHWH is with me as my helper. I see my enemies.

It’s good to take refuge in the YHWH than trust people.

It’s good to hope in the YHWH than to trust the rulers . . . .

I will not die but live. And I will proclaim what he has done (v. 6–9, 17).

As the psalmist sang this, a chorus erupted and sang along with him:

Please, YHWH, save us [Hosanna!], please.

Please, YHWH, deliver us, please (v. 25; Mark 11:9a, 10b).

Soon after calling YHWH to deliverance, they saw YHWH had come to deliver them in his Son, the Messiah.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of YHWH.

Let’s bless him in the house of YHWH (v. 26–27; Mark 11:9b–10a).

Jesus, the disciples, and the people sang this psalm as they claimed to Jerusalem, perhaps to assure Jesus of what awaited him – death and resurrection. It was a march of affirmation, protest, assurance, and triumph. Did they, even for a short moment, see the redemption that was in Jesus?

The Lord Jesus’s sorrowful but resolved determination to do what God ordained for him to do should motivate us as we face a tough and unpleasant future. Like him, we may cry out a psalm of despair but finish with a line of hope: “Praise the Lord.”