“A dumb ass spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.” That’s 2 Peter 2:15 from the Revised Standard Version (also KJV and ASV). For some reason, it speaks to me. Of course, Peter was initially speaking of Balaam and his ass (his donkey).

On October 3, 2024, as I sat in my office stressing over a sermon, my wife stuck her head in the door and said, “I was praying for you, and I heard Jesus say, ‘Remind Peter of Balaam’s ass.’ Does that mean anything to you?” And I said, “Oh yeah! I think that’s the most encouraging thing I could hear right now.”

John 12:12-13, The next day [after Mary sacrificed a fortune by breaking the alabaster flask of perfumed oil over the feet of Jesus as he dined with Lazarus], the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So, they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

Historians point out that at this same time, the Roman Governor Pontus Pilate, would have also been entering Jerusalem from the other side — entering on a war horse.

John 12:14-16a, “And Jesus found a young donkey [a young ass (RSV)] and sat on it, just as it is written, ‘Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt [an ass’s colt]!’ His disciples did not understand these things at first...”

I’m sure they thought, “A young ass — half an ass? Jesus, this is half-assed.”

John 12:16, “His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.”

John quotes Zechariah 9, expecting his listeners to know the context.

Zechariah 9:9 (RSV), “...Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass.”

Then Zechariah goes on to prophecy the most fascinating things about Greece. It’s weird because Greece wasn’t a big deal in Zechariah’s time, but by Jesus’ day, “the Greeks” had become the evil empire. In 175 B.C., the Greek King Antiochus IV Epiphanies, attempted to eradicate Judaism, sacked Jerusalem, pillaged the temple, and erected an altar to Zeus in the holy place.

In Zechariah 9:16, Zechariah writes, “On that day the Lord their God will save them as the flock of his people.” [“Them” is “the sons of Zion (the Jews)” AND “the sons of Greece.”]

John 12:19-20, John continues, “So the Pharisees said to one another... ‘The world has gone after him.’ Now among those at the feast were some Greeks...” John then makes a big deal out of these Greeks who want to know Jesus. Then writes, “And Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come...’”

John is saying that all this stuff in Zechariah is happening in that moment. Read Zechariah and you’ll be constantly reminded of the Revelation (all of it). And from chapter nine to the end, you’ll be reminded of the next seven days in the Gospels (passion week). And strangest of all, it all seems to happen on one day: “That day.”

I’m convinced that John believes that when Jesus hung on the tree in the garden on the sixth day of the week, lifted His head, and cried “it is finished,” as He delivered up His spirit... it really was finished; creation was finished, we were finished, and eternity invaded time, whether we believe it or not, whether we’re awake or still asleep. And so, all of us are truly One for “One has died for all” that all would die for One and for all, and wake from the illusion that each of us is our own creator.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female,” writes Paul, “for you all are One in Christ Jesus.” And The Word of God did all of this by riding into Jerusalem on a little dumb ass.

The Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”

It was a problem for them. Would it be a problem for you? It was a problem for them because the world included the Greeks, and if the world went after Jesus, it would not be going after them.

John 12:23-25, And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man, to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth, and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life [psyche] loses [destroys] it, and whoever hates his life [psyche] in this world will keep it for eternal life [zoe].”

Notice that we have translated two very different Greek words with one English word: “Life.” The two words are “psyche” and “zoe.” Jesus said, “I am the zoe.” And Hebrews tells us that Jesus has an “indestructible zoe.” So, what do we mean when we say that Jesus (the indestructible life) died? Jesus also had a psyche — also translated soul — and we just read that it can be destroyed... and made new. The zoe cannot, and yet, apparently, it can be trapped and alone — for a time, as if entombed.

Perhaps the best explanation of this is on the communion table in front of us every Sunday morning. The earthen vessel, the cup, is like a psyche — a physical body and psychikos (soul) body, constructed of the “adamah” of this world as it travels through space and time. In the beginning, God breathed his Zoe into you (the breath, and the life is in the blood), and you became a living soul (psychen zosan: a zoe psyche); you were inspired, in-spirited; ; you can picture the wine being poured into the cup.

So, what does it mean to love God? Picture the wine being poured back into the pitcher (It looks like death, doesn’t it?) And what does it mean to love your neighbor? Picture wine poured into your cup and now being poured from your earthen vessel into another earthen vessel.

And what does it mean to sin? Well, just don’t “lose your zoe.” To sin is to turn your psyche into a sealed container, like a sealed alabaster flask containing the most expensive perfume — except that what you contain is utterly priceless; it’s the Life of God. To sin is to entomb the zoe in a prison that is your own self-centered psyche. To sin is death; and according to John, we’ve already died.

And what does it mean to live? It means to die to death, which is the death of death, the second death — which is to break your psyche (your earthen vessel) and bleed your zoe (the Life of God) into another vessel, even as that Life is bled into you. And eternal Life is this communion of Love which never ends, for it is the End and the Beginning; it’s eternal Life in the Body of Christ.

Picture a river of wine, a river of Life, a river of blood, flowing between all the earthen vessels and back through the pitcher, such that the moment of giving is always the moment of receiving. Now, each and every vessel is a blood vessel — no longer a vessel of wrath, but a vessel of mercy. It’s not a picture of pain and death; it’s the very definition of life, health, and joy in a living body. It’s the seventh sign that is the substance to which John’s entire Gospel has been pointing.

In the Revelation, the New Jerusalem coming down looks like the Old Stone Temple, but it’s made of living stones that happen to be us, and every stone is worshiping — that is, offering the sacrifice of praise — just like Mary in Bethany. Got the picture?

God is Love. Jesus is the Life of Love incarnate in a body that is us. Jesus is the Logic (Logos) of Love, coordinating, animating, and delighting in his own members. “No man hates his own flesh,” writes Paul.

Self-centeredness, the “survival of the fittest,” is the psyche of hell, especially if it’s wrapped in religious jargon. It doesn’t explain life; it explains death. And most people seem to think that it’s the only thing that there is. They think death is life. Life is NOT the survival of the fittest; Life is the sacrifice of the fittest, for all and in all and through all. The sacrifice of the fittest is the psyche of heaven; it’s the logic of love. Just ask a biologist: Life itself is a communion of love — one cell working with another cell, one body part bleeding the Life into another body part.

When Jesus rides into Jerusalem, He’s literally descending into the belly of the beast to liberate His people from the body of the whore (“Come out of her, my people”). Those people are us, His Bride. He’s storming the gates of hell in order to destroy the works of the devil, set all of us free, and bring all of us together in Himself. He’s destroying the Psyche of Hell and replacing it with the Logic of Heaven. And for that, He needs something far more powerful than a war horse.

The Greek word, “dunamis” is usually translated as “power”; it’s where we get our word “dynamite.”

“Exousia,” (literally, “out of beingness”) is also translated as power, but also “authority.” It’s the power of the “Author,” His Word; it’s the power of Love; it’s the power of romance.

Dunamis is the power to force a person to act against their own will. Exousia is the power to transform another person’s will such that they freely will what they had not willed before — this new desire wells up from within them like a fountain. That’s the power of the Word of Love.

We don’t “get” the Image of Love: Jesus. And so, we don’t get the Logic of Love: Sacrifice. And so, we’re tempted by war horses, dynamite, and politicians that have no real power. And yet, He still chooses to storm the gates of hell on little dumb... donkeys.

In Revelation 19, John writes: “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Then I saw the heaven opened and behold a white horse! ... The one siting on it is called the Word of God... from his mouth issues a sharp two-edged sword.” He cuts the flesh from “all people.” And he implants himself in all people as a seed, the logic of love, that will bind us all together as his body and bride.

You may be dismayed by politicians and think “What can I do? I feel like a little dumb ass.” But when you tell someone about Jesus — why you like Jesus and why you know he likes them — you do something far more powerful than all the dynamite in this world; you carry the Word that makes all things new.

The donkey is our Lord’s war horse. And the Slaughtered Lamb has always been the Lion who has always been the Slaughtered Lamb. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things... and He delights in doing this through me and you.