Donkey Story about Resurrection

The Donkey’s Story, Resurrection Day 2010

 

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            I could not stand up. I absolutely had to kneel down on all four legs. My legs would not hold me up.   I was shaking, totally upset, and completely unable to comprehend what I was seeing this day. This day will live in my memory forever. 

            Just a few days ago I had carried Jesus into Jerusalem with people shouting praises to God and welcoming Him. I have been with him for many years, and I am now a very old donkey. And I have seen some spectacular events on my years with Him. 

            Spectacular – It all began the night he was born. The sky was full of the weight of glory and with angels singing. Smelly shepherds with their flocks came to worship him (Actually this is rather humorous: I think shepherds and sheep stink; most people say we donkeys stink! I guess it all depends on who is smelling who!); later Magi from the East with their camels and slaves came to bring very expensive gifts for the Baby. 

            So, I was pretty sure that the life of this One was going to be exceptional – He was an extraordinary person, unique to be exact, no other like him, just one of a kind.

            Indeed He was extraordinary, not in childhood but later in His life. His childhood was rather ordinary, not at all different from any other Hebrew boy growing up in Nazareth . He went to the Synagogue school and memorized scrolls of the Torah and the Prophets and the Psalms and Proverbs. School was just that: memorize.

            I went with Him and His family to Jerusalem for the Passover. He was 12 years old then. Oh, he was a bit “mischievous” – He stayed in Jerusalem to talk with the scribes and priests in the Temple . His parents were not impressed with His behavior!

            He continued to grow just like any other Hebrew male until....He was about thirty years old and that began His career as an itinerant preacher, teacher, healer, and one who pretty much upset the establishment both religious and secular. Authorities generally disliked Him because He could see their hearts and not just their actions. And of course, this got Him into “discussions” with these authorities, and eventually to this day of infamy on a bleak hillside outside Jerusalem .

            To put the scene in simple terms: They crucified Him. I’ve been around Roman crucifixions more than once and they are not pretty sights. Crucifixion is slow torture that always ends in death – death comes as a release after days of dying slowly. I have to congratulate the Romans: they know how to torture a person to death. 

 

            But His crucifixion was different. He was all bloody and exhausted before He was nailed to the cross. Evidently, the authorities want to teach Him a lesson so they beat Him until He was almost dead, and then they nailed him to the cruel cross.

            And this was what totally rocked my heart! It was so unjust. He did no wrong. Oh, he upset lots of people by his teaching, but those people needed to be upset. He did only good to all. He was loving, kind, generous, and always giving of himself to others. His teachings were suburb. Much of what he said the common folks, the people of the earth, they understood and accepted what he taught. But the authorities! Ah, they understood and rejected his teachings because what he taught ran counter to their way of thinking and their mind set.

            Oh, and there was one thing that really bothered the authorities and puzzled most people, including some of us animals who understood human language (but no one knew we knew!!). He claimed to be the Son of God. Talk about an explosive idea! The Hebrew scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and anyone else in authority in Palestine were very unhappy about him. The Romans thought he was a bit crazy, but they were also a little bit worried about his setting off a rebellion. So he was not accepted by those in authority: religious, social, and political.

            Now, about this claim to divinity. I’m just a little old jackass, but I can tell you something very plainly. No person, man or woman, could do what this man called Jesus did and teach what he taught unless he was divine. From his birth onward I saw countless evidences for his divinity. If he were not divine, he sure fooled me! And he totally scared all the authorities.

            All this ended, so it seemed, on that mid-day at the Place called the Skull where they nailed him to the cross.

            It was a dreadful sight! People shouting at him to “come down,” and mocking him, and one crucified along side of him taunting him, too. Pain, blood and .....What? Oh, my goodness!

            The noonday sun stopped. Darkness covered the whole area. It was as if the heavens were weeping. At his birth, the heavens sang songs of jubilation. Now it was sorrow pouring down.

            So, you can see why I was so upset to view all these things. Knowing who he was, and yet he was there on that cruel cross dying! I could not comprehend this, nor could I even begin to try. After all, I am just a dumb old jackass, not some smart religious or government leader. My school was life, not the Torah nor Roman law.

            He died!

            Seemed to me like the end had arrived; dead, very dead. His dead body was put on my back and we took his body to a tomb. His disciples were so scared that they all ran away, not even watching his crucifixion. So much for supportive followers!

            I figured that all my insights were wrong. He was just another good man who got into trouble with the authorities. As far as being the Son of God – well, I guess all the things I witnessed, well, I could not figure out what all those things meant. But can God die? 

            Was I depressed? Depressed was not the word. I was totally demoralized and devastated!

            BUT!! 

            His crucifixion was not the end of the story.

            From any normal perspective, dead is the end. You die and that is it! The End! 

            I’ve written already about many details of what happened on the first day of the week, three days after he was crucified. Putting the whole episode into a small alabaster jar, let me say: He is NOT dead! He was raised from the dead!

            He really, really, really is the Son of God! Oh my God!! My God! My God raised him from the dead. He is alive. I saw him with my own donkey eyes. Oh, and he came up to me and patted my head and said, “You knew all the time who I am, didn’t you?!!” And I gave a hee haw, at least it seemed that to those around us, but he knew I said “YES!!!!” 

            This is the really great news! From seeming disaster to enriched Joy!

            HE IS RISEN! RISEN INDEED!

 

 

 

So ends another donkey story. 

Interestingly, this jackass was changed by the acknowledgment of the Resurrection. I wonder what this old donkey knows now!?!

 

Happy Resurrection Day 2010!!

give honor to whom honor is due......