Donkeys, Clothes And Palms
Ministering: Pastor I.S James
Topic: Donkeys, Clothes & Palms
Text: Matt. 21:1-11
References: Col. 3:3, Luke 19:41-42, 1Kings 19:7-9, 2Kings 4:2, Gen. 22:12,17
Do you know what it means to live for God? Living for God means that you leave everything in your life at His beck & call. It means you’re dead.
Our failure to understand scripture is what stops us from living for God. We live like we own our lives totally.
There are three words that we want to focus on in our text of today: Donkeys, cloaks & palms.
Jesus was not trying to be dramatic in His entrance into Jerusalem. He was simply trying to fulfil scripture and He was trying to let them know whom He is – the Messiah.
This was Jerusalem’s last chance to either accept Christ as the Messiah or wait for the coming of the Antichrist.
Jesus wept over Jerusalem in (Luke 19:41-42) because Jerusalem had missed its set time & unfortunately, perilous times always follow the set time.
The Jews had more than one chance to accept Christ; this means as God’s children we sometimes have more than one chance to get it right.
For as long as we live, let’s not stop trying to take the chances God has given us to connect with Him at our own set time.
From our text, do you see that the name of the man who gave the donkey wasn’t even mentioned? All we see him noted for was his yieldedness.
Donkeys were the primary means of transportation in this culture at this time. Most judges rode on donkeys and their children on their colts.
The Greek word translated as master is “KURIOS”. This word means:
- Supreme owner
- Supreme in control & authority
What Jesus is saying in today’s language is – if anyone is questioning His request to use your money or possessions, He is saying tell them that the One who controls your life & breath has need of it.
If you know Jesus is Lord in your life, you won’t have a problem parting with what He requests of you to give to His service.
The man who gave his donkey & colt for Jesus’ use understood what it means for Jesus to be Lord.
Why do we find giving difficult? Giving involves 2 things:
- Giving involves a test of your faith. (1Kings 17:9-11, 2Kings 4:2)
- Giving involves the seed principle
Every time of giving is a test of your faith. The reason many people don’t get blessed is because they either don’t have faith or don’t want to sow a seed.
Those who couldn’t afford to give a donkey or colt gave their clothes & those who couldn’t afford to give their got palm fronds to wave/give.
Clothes are personal effects and signify something that’s close to and intimate to you as a person. Nothing of yours is off limits when giving to God.
There is nothing that it is too small for you to give, never say that you don’t have anything to give to the Master’s service.
(Mark 14:3-9) Strive take advantage of any opportunity to give directly towards God’s work, because while you always have the chance to give towards other causes the chances to give directly to God’s work are limited.