Donkeys seem to be famous for being dense, stubborn, and quick to balk at the slightest provocation. On a good day they can carry heavy loads and shoulder more than their share of responsibility. But perceptive? They are certainly not famous for that! Yet donkeys seem to have shown up at pivotal moments in the story of redemption.
When the children of Israel were making their way into the Promised Land, they camped along the Jordan River across from Jericho on the edge of Moab. The Moabite leader Balaak (son of the king) was petrified when he saw this huge encampment. He had heard how God had given Israel the victory over the neighboring Amorites.
So Balaak called a soothsayer (a prophet misusing his gift) named Balaam to put a curse on Israel so Moab would be able to easily overtake them. God told Balaam not to go with the Moab team, but (follow the money!) they offered him a delicious reward. The “prophet” said he wouldn’t put a curse on Israel “because Israel was blessed”, but agreed to go with the messengers just to check it out in case he heard something different from God. God was angered by this compromise.
On Balaam’s way to meet Balaak, the donkey he was riding stopped in her tracks because she saw a fierce angel of the Lord with a drawn sword in his hand blocking the road. She went off the road into a field, so Balaam (oblivious to the angel) got off the donkey and beat her back onto the road. Back on the road which ran between two walled vineyards, the donkey was again confronted with the armed angel. She pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. Balaam beat her again. This time she lay down in the road with Balaam on her back and refused to move. Still oblivious to the angel, he beat her again.
This time the “dumb” animal spoke. “What did I ever do to you to make you beat me?”
“You humiliated me,” said Balaam. “If I had had a sword, I would have killed you.”
“Remember me? I’m your faithful beast of burden who has carried all your loads my whole life to this very day!” the donkey retorted.
Then God gave Balaam a wake-up-call, and he saw the armed angel blocking the road to keep him from playing games with the enemy of God’s intensions.
Now, fast forward to the next time a donkey shows up. It is again to carry out God’s intensions to get His people to a new place—to bring His own Son to earth to become the promised Messiah who would “save His people from their sin.” A young woman is riding on a donkey with her husband-of-promise to register for taxation. She is nine months pregnant and ready to deliver. We don’t have an actual account of this donkey, but since the couple is poor and the distance is long, we are pretty sure they got to their destination by means of the transportation available to them.
Evidently, their donkey is willing and obedient, carrying its load to a stable where both the couple and the donkey will find a place to rest. The young woman will give birth to the promised Messiah in that stable on that quiet night.
The third time a donkey plays a vital role Jesus and his disciples have come to Jerusalem. They get as far as Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, when Jesus tells two of his friends to go into a nearby settlement, and there they will find a donkey and her colt tied up. “Loose them and bring them to me,” Jesus tells them, “and if anyone questions this, just say, ‘The Lord needs them.’”
Did this ring any bells with any of the disciples? Did anyone remember their schooling in the prophets? On their way did the two disciples recall the text they had had to discuss in class: “Tell the daughters of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”?
It would have been donkey-like for these “dumb” animals to balk at a couple of strangers trying to lead her and her colt away. But evidently, they both came willingly and did not freak out when Jesus rode through the crowded streets full of cheering throngs waving palm branches.
So. This holy season of Easter, this is my prayer:
Lord, as a follower of this Messiah make me at least as sensitive to eternal things and as perceptive to your plan as a jackass. When I look up synonyms for jackass, I find “dunce, blockhead, nitwit, dummy, numbskull.” Yet, in the story of the rescue and redemption of God’s people, you spoke to a donkey, and it heard, it saw, it was obedient, it did not balk. If a donkey can see an angel in its path, help me to be at least that perceptive. If a donkey can be untied and led by a stranger who walks with Jesus, please let me be as willing and obedient as that.
This Easter, make me alive with resurrection power so I will be as responsive as a dumb donkey when my Lord has need of me. Let me see the invisible Kingdom you came to establish in the hearts of those least likely to be the perfect container, and let me be willing to carry whatever load that that vision might require.
