28 After Jesus had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

29 As He approached Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, He sent out two of His disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

32 So those who were sent went out and found it just as Jesus had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked, “Why are you untying the colt?”

34 “The Lord needs it,” they answered. 35 Then they led the colt to Jesus, threw their cloaks over it, and put Jesus on it.

REFLECTIONS

Written by James Davidson

Why do you think Luke goes into so much detail about how Jesus got hold of this colt to ride on into Jerusalem? It’s because by doing this Jesus was making a powerful statement about who he was and what he’d come to do. Jesus was deliberately fulfilling the words of the prophet Zechariah in the Old Testament. This is what Zechariah 9:9-10 says:

“9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your King comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the horse from Jerusalem,
and the bow of war will be broken.
Then He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His dominion will extend from sea to sea,
and from the Euphrates
to the ends of the earth.”

Zechariah foresaw that God’s King, the Messiah, would come in humility. As a sign of this humility, he would come riding on a young donkey. He would not come on a huge war horse as a conquering general. This was because his mission would be to bring peace to all nations by doing away with war altogether.

This is exactly Jesus’ mission. He came in humility to serve his people from all nations by laying down his life for them. As we trust in him, we are reconciled to God, and we are also reconciled to one another. Jesus knew that wars would continue until his second coming. But when he returns, he will establish a new creation where people from all nations will live in perfect peace.

Let’s pray: Father, we thank you for Jesus our humble donkey-riding king. Thank you that because of his death on the cross, we have a certain hope of a new creation where all people will live in perfect peace.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James is an Assistant Minister of our Bossley Park and Fairfield Early congregations.