Well, maybe there's nothing new to learn, but Jesus is a teacher who
likes revision work ... He likes it a lot, because we are so forgetful,
especially of the things we don't always want to hear, or don't like to hear.
So, what can we learn from this text ... or, what can we be reminded of
in this text today? I am going to suggest 2 things which have particular
significance for us as disciples.
Firstly: Jesus sometimes makes
strange requests of us.
In this text, they've walked many miles, from Galilee, across the
Jordan, on to Jericho and then 17 miles uphill to Jerusalem ... and now, at the
end of that long journey on foot, just outside Jerusalem, Jesus says: "Go
and get me something to ride on, specifically ... get me a donkey, and not just
any donkey, but one with a foal!"
"Well, Lord, we're nearly there, in fact we'll get there quicker
without a donkey, and especially a donkey with a foal with her. And in any
case, we really think you should ride on a horse, like David did."
Jesus sometimes makes strange requests, doesn't He?
Prayer is a strange thing to do ... reading the same book over and over
and over again, is a strange thing to do .... coming to a table to receive a
small piece of bread and a ridiculously small glass of grape juice is a strange
thing to do. But, Jesus tells us to do these things, doesn’t He?
Feeding hungry people who you don't even know and whom you like even less, is a strange thing to do ... and sometimes it's just a nuisance.
Welcoming strangers is a strange thing to do, and, sometimes ... a dangerous thing to do.
Visiting the sick, ah really, ... and visiting those in prison ... please, don't get me started!
So we learn (again, revision work) that Jesus sometimes make strange
requests. But if you've been obedient to His strange requests, then you have
also learnt that the more you do the strange things that Jesus asks you to do,
the less strange they become and the more sense they make ... but that's a
sermon for another day.
You also learn, again, this is in accordance with His teaching, that
when we prove faithful in doing small things, He begins to ask us to do much
bigger things ... but that's also a sermon for another day.
The second lesson, reminder, to lift from this story, is that disciples, (in verse 4-6), go and do what Jesus has asked them to do.
Now, as we all know, Jesus' last command to His disciples before His
Ascension to heaven, what we call His Great Commission, was and is Go to all nations and make disciples. Not Go and make Christians,
or followers, or Methodists or Anglicans, but go and make disciples.
You see, Methodists or Brethren, don't always do what Jesus has told them to do ... followers of Jesus don't always do what Jesus has told them to do, saved and born again people don't always do what Jesus has told them to do, but disciples ... disciples go and do what Jesus has told them to do, that’s the defining mark of disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ as opposed to followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Discipleship demands obedience, and disciples, far more than Christians, born agains, saved people, Methodists, disciples are committed to
You see, Methodists or Brethren, don't always do what Jesus has told them to do ... followers of Jesus don't always do what Jesus has told them to do, saved and born again people don't always do what Jesus has told them to do, but disciples ... disciples go and do what Jesus has told them to do, that’s the defining mark of disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ as opposed to followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Discipleship demands obedience, and disciples, far more than Christians, born agains, saved people, Methodists, disciples are committed to
Disciples go and do what Jesus has instructed them to do, obedience is
the gift they love and long to give to God ... Jesus says: “Go and get me a
donkey” and disciples immediately go and get a donkey.
Finally, this text shows us that when
we live in obedience to God, all the glory goes to God the Son, Jesus the
Christ.
The disciples who fetched the donkey aren't named ... there's no
"We arranged the donkey"
The owner of the donkey isn't named ... so there was obviously no
"Yes, you can take my donkey as long as the name of my Donkey Hire Company
is stuck on the side of the donkey
And we don't know who started the singing ... or who was the first to
pick a palm branch and wave it ... or who first took off a coat and laid it on
the ground.
All the glory in this story just goes to Jesus
So, Palm Sunday reminds us that Jesus, our Lord and Savior, sometimes
make strange requests/demands of us. Many of the things Jesus asks us to do can
be done differently, or perhaps even better, by other people, but disciples
nonetheless just go and do what Jesus asks them to do, and they do it in a way
that all the glory goes to God. May you and I be or become, the same.
May this Easter season be one that as we journey through it, changes us,
rearranges us, making us more open to hearing Jesus' requests and commands,
making us more obedient to His requests and commands, may this Easter leave us
living lives which glorify God.
