For some unknown reason, my parents never let me have pets. Growing up several of my friends had dogs, cats, snakes, and other animals but I could not have one. My parents most likely did not want the mess, fur, and the waste around the back yard. I really did not mind the idea of an animal around the house, but I think my parent’s did not like the concept of an dirty animal walking around the house with us.
In ancient times, people and animals lived close together. Throughout the Bible we see animals playing a role in God’s creation and God’s people. Animals are mentioned from Genesis to Revelation. For a complete list of animals in the Bible check this out. What we might not realize is that we can learn valuable insight from these animal stories. Scripture teaches us that:
God created all the animals (Psalm 104).
“Then God commanded, ‘Let the earth produce all kinds of animal life; domestic and wild, large and small, and it was done. So God made them all, and He was pleased with what He saw.” Genesis 1:24, 25
All animals belong to God (Psalm 24:1).
“All the animals in the forest are Mine and the cattle on thousands of hills. All the wild birds are Mine and all living things in the fields.” Psalm 50:10, 11
God cares for the animals (1 John 4:16).
“Look at the birds flying around . . . your Father in Heaven takes care of them” Matthew 6:26
“He gives animals their food and feeds the young ravens when they call.” Psalm 147:9
Clearly, God created and cares for animals, but to what degree can the story of these animals teach us about God?
In our Palm Sunday scripture text in Luke 19:28-40, Jesus asks two unnamed disciples to go and find a colt (or a donkey, the Gospels mention both) and to bring it to Jesus. What is interesting about this text is that:
- The disciples must go find the animal
- The disciples are instructed to take the animal from its owner
- The animal will be tied and must be untied.
- The animal is to be brought to Jesus
The process of obtaining this colt/donkey is important. Some form of the words tie, tied, or untied are mentioned 5 times in this short pericope. This act of untying the donkey seems to be an important part of the story (other than Jesus’ procession into Jerusalem). Luke goes to great lengths to mention this action of untying.
If these disciples never untied this donkey then we would have never had the story of Jesus riding the donkey. The prophet, Zechariah had said, “Shout with gladness, daughter of Jerusalem! See now, your king comes to you; he is victorious, he is triumphant, humble and riding on a donkey. He will proclaim peace for the nation. His empire will stretch from sea to sea.” Zech 9:9-10. As you can see, if this donkey never was untied, the scripture would have not been fulfilled.
I hope you will join with me this Sunday @ 10:15 a.m. on Palm Sunday. We will have a Palm Processional with adults and children waving palms branches. The sermon message will go into depth about this idea of untying and seek to figure out what we can glean from this Palm Sunday story about an untied donkey.
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