Palm/Passion Sunday at Trinity

This week at Trinity, there will be lots of Scripture featured in our worship service--too much for me to pick one "central" passage, and too much for me to translate all of it. If you're interested in reading on your own, find Matthew 21:1-11 and Matthew 27:11-54. A friend of mine has already blogged a fantastic historical lesson about Palm Sunday, which would be well worth the read.

In the meantime, I've been thinking a lot about the Palm Sunday narrative--you know how Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. I was telling this story to a group of children this week. We weren't reading from the Bible, but were retelling the story to each other. One of the children wanted to be sure that everyone knew that Jesus borrowed the donkey--it wasn't his. This detail seemed important to him.

Maybe it is an important detail. If Jesus borrowed the colt or donkey, it means that Jesus didn't raise the animal, feed it daily, make sure it had water or was safely tied to something sturdy. Someone else did all of these things. Whoever cared for the animal was intimately involved in this story, but is not even mentioned.

At another gathering with some colleagues, we read this story dramatically. It was brought to our attention that this animal probably did not know that on that day he would become famous. The donkey plays an important role! Every commentator mentions it, everyone thinks about it when they hear the story. And that animal probably had no idea that he was born to serve such a central role. We were reminded at this gathering that we're all "just the donkey." We all have some role, some purpose, that we may not even realize is important, but God needs us.

I'm constantly amazed at how God uses--even needs!--ordinary people to carry out such an extraordinary story of salvation. There's the person who cared for the donkey, all those people with palms, the ones who laid their cloaks on the ground, the disciples who fetched the animal. The list goes on. Without any of these major players, the story of salvation just wouldn't be the same. It astounds me how necessary each of us is in this greater meta-narrative.

Anyhow, there is a lot to think about as we approach Holy Week and I hope you will find time to process everything before Easter comes!