Lenten Devotional Day Thirty-Three
A few years ago I heard Tim Keller tell the following story. I think he said he had read it in a magazine and couldn’t find it again. So, it’s not mine, nor his — a loose paraphrase of a loose paraphrase, yet I think it still makes the point.
The Ass of Palm Sunday.
The donkey had never had a day like Palm Sunday with Jesus on his back. He soaked up all the praise and glory of the adoring crowds, feeling regal and important as he made his way marching on top of the palm fronds. He drifted off to sleep that night so satisfied with his life.
The next day he went back to Jerusalem, but he was widely ignored and even mistreated.
“Get out of here, you little ass,” someone said. The dejected donkey plodded back to his mother.
“I don’t know what happened,” the donkey told his mother. “Yesterday everybody loved me.”
“Ahh, son,” his mother tenderly answered, “Don’t you understand? It was never about you.”
We may not have Jesus riding triumphantly on our backs, but we can sometimes feel that we’ve accomplished something all on our own. When the truth is, it is always about Him. We can do nothing apart from Christ.
John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Digging Deeper:
Can you relate to the Little Ass? Have you sometimes forgotten that it is not about you?
Palm Sunday was such a festive event, and yet the adoring crowds turned so quickly. They chanted “Crucify him,” just days later. How do crowds influence your thinking?