Something to Mule Over (Part 1)

On Palm Sunday and throughout Easter we celebrate the beginning of the end. The Sunday Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey could not have been more different from the following Sunday, when He would rise from the dead. Palm Sunday was the beginning of arguably the most important week in human history, the turning point and the beginning of God’s promise coming true.

Putting ourselves in another culture and another time can be a challenge, but I have to wonder what the disciples and the rest of the Jewish people were thinking. Consider Zechariah 9:9:

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!

Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you,

righteous and victorious,

lowly and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Their king—righteous and victorious—would come on a donkey. This was expected!

In 1 Kings 1, we see Solomon, another son of David, riding on a donkey on the day he becomes king. David calls in the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan and instructs them to set Solomon on his own mule and take him to the place Nathan was to anoint him king over Israel. They were to blow the trumpet and shout, “Long live King Solomon!” Perhaps most significantly, he was then to come and reign in David’s place. And his throne was to be even greater than that of his father David.

We see something similar in Isaiah 9:7 as one in many verses that point to Jesus sitting on David’s throne: “Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.” And He too would ride on a donkey.

As the trumpet sounded, and all the people went after Solomon, playing flutes and “rejoicing greatly,” the ground shook with the sound (1 Ki. 1:40). Adonijah, who thought he had crowned himself king, hearing the shouts, asked, “What’s the meaning of all the noise in the city?” To which the messenger replied, “Our lord king David has made Solomon king and put him on his own mule. And the city resounds with the rejoicing of the people” (1 Ki. 1:45).

A thousand years later, we see something similar. The true king is anointed and proclaimed, riding on a donkey, accompanied by rejoicing (Lk. 19:37), and his adversaries can’t help but take notice.

But why a donkey? Aren’t kings supposed to ride horses? That’s coming. See Revelation 19:11. For now, our king comes to us, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey. Consider Zechariah 9:10:

I will take away the chariots from Ephraim

and the warhorses from Jerusalem,

and the battle bow will be broken.

He will proclaim peace to the nations.

His rule will extend from sea to sea

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

The key word? Peace. What was proclaimed as Jesus rode into Jerusalem? “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Lk. 19:38). This harkens back to the angels who at Jesus’ birth proclaimed to the shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

What is often not known is who else rode ceremoniously into Jerusalem.

Stay tuned.