Luke 19:28-40 (NLT)
Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples. 29 As he came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead. 30 “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks, ‘Why are you untying that colt?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 So they went and found the colt, just as Jesus had said. 33 And sure enough, as they were untying it, the owners asked them, “Why are you untying that colt?”
34 And the disciples simply replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for him to ride on.
36 As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. 37 When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.
38 “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”
39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”
40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples. 29 As he came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead. 30 “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks, ‘Why are you untying that colt?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 So they went and found the colt, just as Jesus had said. 33 And sure enough, as they were untying it, the owners asked them, “Why are you untying that colt?”
34 And the disciples simply replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for him to ride on.
36 As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. 37 When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.
38 “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”
39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”
40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
- In history this event is known as Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem before his crucifixion, it’s a significant day
- But what about the donkey?
- I believe God would say to all of us “untie the donkey”
- How many of you own a donkey? No one?
- That’s ok, our donkey is our gifts, talents, abilities and/or our resources
- We all have a donkey and it’s time we untied them
- It’s interesting, the phrase that Jesus instructs the disciples to use,
“The Lord needs it.”
“The Lord needs it.”
- Does the God of heaven really need our donkey?
- The original language (the Greek) translation of that phrase is,
“The Lord of it has need.”
“The Lord of it has need.”
- In other words, the Lord of the donkey needs his donkey
- In other words, it’s God’s donkey not yours
- Great quote…
“Jesus doesn’t need what we have, in the sense that he cannot exist without that something, rather, he chooses to work alongside His creatures, using them for His glory.”
- So, like I said before, “untie the donkey”
- It’s God’s anyway
- That donkey is no good to anyone tied up
- Donkey’s are not the animal you own for show purposes (no show pony)
- They are a working animal
- All a tied up donkey will do is eat, rest, make a mess and smell
- But untie that donkey and it can get to work
- In this case, the work it was doing was carrying Jesus into the city of Jerusalem
- Your donkey, your gifts/talent/resource is no good to anyone tied up
- But untie it, give it to God and it can be put to great use, for his purposes
- In this story, Jesus challenges the ownership of the donkey
- Do you see the donkey as yours or God’s?
- Are they your talents, gifts and resources? Or are they God’s?
- Everything I have is from God
- Some of us need to make an adjustment in our head, remove the concept of, “It’s mine!”
- And replace it with, “It’s His.”
- Our natural response is to hold onto it, keep it to ourselves
- We won’t untie the donkey because we think we need it more than God
- Sometimes I will withhold my money because I don’t want to go without the thing I was planning to spend that money on
- But that sort of thinking puts limits on God
- And he cannot be limited
- I have found that the more I untie the donkey’s in my life, the more donkey’s he gives me
- Sometimes I go without for a season (it’s not always an instant thing)
- But in the long run, there is always more donkey’s
- The owner of the donkey could have held onto his donkey
- The bible says that the donkey had never been ridden before
- The owner was obviously saving it for something, had an intention for how it was to be used
- By letting the donkey go, he was actually letting go of what he intended to use the donkey for, the future plans he had for it
- The goals and dreams that were tied up with that donkey
- All of us have a plan on how we are going to use our donkey
- We’ve got it tied up waiting for the day we can put it into action
- Whether it be our resources, our talents and abilities
- But God’s plans and intentions are always above and beyond ours
- You can trust your donkey to God (after all, it is His donkey)
- And he has a magnificent plan for it
- No matter what your donkey looks like, God has a plan for it
- Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking our donkey isn’t good enough to be used by God
- After all, it’s just a smelly donkey
- What could God do with that?
- In this story, the fact that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey was very significant
- In bible times if a king rode into a city on a horse it meant war, but if a king rode in on a donkey it symbolized peace
- The donkey was the perfect choice for the reason why Jesus came
- Also, by riding into Jerusalem on a donkey Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 (NLT)Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey.
- So it was no accident that Jesus chose a smelly old donkey to make his grand entry
- The donkey was exactly what Jesus needed
- Don’t ever under estimate the value of your donkey
- Whatever it looks like, God has need of it
- What donkey have you got tied up that God wants you to untie?
- There is too much at stake to leave your donkey tied up
- God has need of it
- A donkey untied and used by God results in God being praised
- In this story, it says as Jesus rode in on the donkey, crowds gathered and began to praise him, began to declare the goodness of God
- God is glorified when we untie our donkeys and let him have control over them, over our talents, over our gifts, over our resources, over our lives
- His purposes are achieved through us as we give him control
- There is no greater feeling than to be used by God
- To see God at work
- When this happens, always remember its God who is to be praised
- The people didn’t come out that day to cheer the donkey
- They came to cheer and praise Jesus
- Always praise Jesus not the donkey
- Give God the glory not the talent, not the gift, not the resource
- God at work in us
- That’s the thing to celebrate and give the glory too
- Don’t fall into the trap of chasing the praise and accolades for your donkey
- That praise belongs to God
- It’s important to know that the same crowd that were praising Jesus that day were only a few days later shouting out that he put be put to death
- We also see that although most were praising God that day, there were some that were negative and criticized Jesus
- I think that whenever you step out for God and make a stand, whenever you untie your donkey and let God have control of your life, there will be some that criticize
- That’s OK, God is big enough to handle the criticism
- Not sure if you’ve noticed but God hasn’t stopped being God just because a few people have criticized him or said stuff about him
- He’s continued to be God
- He continues to be at work on the earth and in people’s lives
- And He continues to do that work through you and I
- His word for you today is, “Untie the donkey.”
- Your donkey may be the very thing that takes Jesus into your school, your family, your work place, your world
- Your donkey may be the very thing that God uses
- For the owners of this donkey, their donkey was the vessel that carried Jesus into Jerusalem
- Their donkey played a role in the single greatest event of all time
- And that is the moment when Jesus gave up his life for us
- Because of what Jesus did in those next few days, died on the cross and then rose from the grave to be lifted up to heaven
- Because of what Jesus did, our lives can be dramatically different
- Jesus died so that we can have life, he died so we can spend eternity in heaven
- The way we can receive this eternal life is by entering into a relationship with Jesus
- We invite Jesus into our world and start living for him
- For us to do this, we have to surrender control over our lives, and let God be in control
- The donkey in this case is our life
- We have to untie it, and give it to God
- Give our life to a higher purpose than just ourselves
- Maybe you’ve already given your life to Jesus…
- Examine your life, what donkeys have you got that are tied up?
- That donkey had never been ridden before Jesus rode it that day
- I believe there are donkeys in our world that are untested, never ridden before, never been given to God before
- Up until now we’ve kept them tied up
- Now is the time to “untie the donkey”
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