A STORY OF TWO DONKEYS

One day, many years ago, in Jerusalem there was a donkey and she had recently birthed a colt. 

This donkey was nothing special.  She had worked hard for her master at carrying loads and turning the style.  She had worked in the heat and had always been faithful to her owner. 

But while she was pregnant, she didn’t have to work quite so hard.  Then, her colt was born.  He looked just like his mommy.  He was now four months old and followed her everywhere she went. 

One day, when dawn broke, she thought that it was an unusually clear day.  When she got up, her colt immediately got up too. 

Soon, her owner came and took her toward the city;  of course, her colt followed right along with her.  When they came to a house, they stopped for a while. 

Eventually, two men came and talked with her owner.  After a brief conversation, these two men led her away from her owner.  She was surprised – this had never happened before.  But she relaxed when they allowed her colt to come along too.

As they came to the brow of the hill overlooking Jerusalem, there were more men and others gathered.  They all seemed very happy.  Then the two men led her to another man who had the kindest eyes she had ever known.  As she drew near to him, she felt a strange sense of being genuinely cared for. 

The two men who had brought her here threw their coats over her back and this new man climbed onto her back.  First, he had petted her colt and spoke kind words to it.  He was not heavy. 

This began the strangest journey she had ever made.  As she carried the man down the hill and toward Jerusalem, crowds of people gathered.  They laid their clothing on the road before her.  Then, they cut down branches from nearby trees and laid them before her too. 

It was noisy!  There were lots of children!  Children love parades!  Each time she checked, her colt followed closely behind her.  She felt so proud!  The people shouted things like:

Hosanna to the Son of David! 

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 

Hosanna in the highest!

Before they entered the city, they came to a prominent spot where you could view the entire city.  The man slipped off of her and walked to the edge of the cliff.  The crowd grew quiet.  She heard him speak softly.  He said,

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and stone the messengers God has sent you! How many times I wanted to put my arms around all your people, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me!                                                              [Mt. 23:37 Good News Translation]

There were tears in his eyes!

She felt his pain.  She too loved her colt and loved having him close to her.  She nudged the colt with her nose.  He nudged her back and suckled during this brief break. 

Now the crowd was growing very large.  The noise magnified.  It was a joyful time!  She felt proud to be carrying this man.  The people obviously loved him and wanted to be close to him.  She was honored to be the one chosen to carry him.  

As they arrived at the temple, he dismounted and rubbed her head before moving away.  She watched as he was swallowed by the crowd.  Soon, her owner appeared and began leading her back to his home. 

As much as she respected her owner, there was something in her that made her just want to stay forever with this man who had ridden her into the city. 

Jesus our brother kind and good
Was humbly born in a stable of wood
And the friendly beasts around him stood
Jesus our brother kind and good

 

"I" said the donkey shaggy and brown
I carried his mother up hill and down
I carried him safely to Bethlehem town
"I" said the donkey shaggy and brown

[from "The Friendly Beasts" by Robert Davis]

REPEATING HISTORY

 [Based on Forged In Faith, by Rod Cragg]

In reviewing American history, I'm surprised to see that questions relevant in our country in 2021, were also relevant in the early 1600's.  Both Jamestown and Plymouth initially practiced a system known as 'Common-Store'.  This simply meant that all the supplies were brought into one place and were disseminated to all equally without regard for the level of investment made by individuals.  

Although this worked fairly well in the beginning, and may even have been necessary while carving out a community in a wilderness environment, both settlements found that it inculcated laziness and a sense of entitlement among the early settlements.  

Cragg reports regarding the first settlement, Jamestown:

Most were former city dwellers untrained in farming, hunting, and other survival skills.  They had managed to survive an early Indian attack, but most were soon struck down by fatal diseases.  They had built their settlement on low, swampy land...and dysentery, scurvy, and malaria killed scores of them.  So did starvation, which was encouraged by indolence and attitude.  The Old World artisans and gentry among them refused to do the hard work that was necessary for survival - clearing trees, uprooting stumps, planting, weeding, construction.  Even so, a socialistic form of government - the common store system - entitled everyone to equal rations from a common storehouse regardless of how much they worked.  Amid constant squabbling and demoralizing dissension, the colonists began starving to death.   When they had consumed all their livestock, they turned to dogs, cats, rats, and mice.  Eventually, some reportedly turned to cannibalism.  Almost two-thirds of them died.  [p.18]

 Finally, Captain Smith, a professional soldier and explorer, saved the colony by obtaining food from neighboring Indians - and by enforcing a compulsory work program based on a New Testament admonition:  "if any would not work, neither should he eat."  Discarding the common-store system, Smith insisted that settlers had to work in order to draw rations.  [p.19]

William Bradford (first governor of Plymouth) reported that some colonists liked the common-store system and believed "that taking away of property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing."  Instead, it bred "confusion & discontent, and retarded much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort," according to Bradford.  "God in his wisdom," he concluded, "saw another course fitter for them."  

The "fitter" course was the same biblical principle that Captain John Smith had adopted at Jamestown - "if any does not work, neither should he eat."  Bradford replaced the common-store with the free enterprise system, which allowed the private ownership of land.  "This had very good success," he would later report, "for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corne (sic) was planted then other waise (sic) would have bene (sic) by any means the Government or any other could use..."  This was more than a mere shift in economic policy:  it was a faith-based decision to trust God and embrace individual initiative rather than looking to the government as provider.  [p.16]

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” as stated in former Harvard philosophy teacher, George Santayana's work, The Life of Reason: Reason in Common Sense.

PALM SUNDAY

Matthew 21 opens with the report of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem (vs.1-11).  

Many will celebrate this occasion in our churches tomorrow morning.  It is a joyous day that begins a week of tragedy and sorrow.  

In this episode we see Jesus receiving the acclaim that He deserves.  

• a donkey (and her colt) are secured.  (vs.1-3)
• Old Testament prophecies are fulfilled:  Zechariah 9:9 and Isaiah 62:11.  (vs.4-5)
• a very large crowd spread their clothing before Jesus (and his donkey and her colt).  (v.8)
• others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  (v.8)
• all the while the people shouted:  Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!  (v.9)
• When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"  (v.10)

But the tone changes quickly!  Directly on the heels of this jubilation, Jesus enters the temple area and drives out all who were buying and selling there.  We're shocked at His righteous indignation as He overturns tables and benches and screams, It is written:  'My house will be called a house of prayer', but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'  (v.13)

On the heels of this, the blind and the lame came to Him at the temple, and He healed them. (v.14)  They had apparently been gathered at the temple as an expression of their hope.  Seeing Jesus there, they were not afraid, but gathered around Him and He healed them all!  Imagine, for a moment, the inexpressible joy that was generated in these moments.  The children spontaneously began singing His praises:  Hosanna to the Son of David!  (v.15)

These immediate acts of entering Jerusalem in fulfillment of prophecy, cleansing the temple, and healing the sick remarkably draws the ire of the chief priests and teachers of the law.  They scold Jesus and tell Him to shush the children.  In response, He simply quotes Psalm 8:2 for them, which surely must have aggravated them even more:  From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise.  (v.16)

And with this accomplished, Holy Week has begun.  Jesus withdraws with His disciples to Bethany to rest.  

___________________________________________

It seems obvious to me that Christians (Christ-followers) should consider beginning this Holy Week in a similar fashion.

1.   Celebrate Christ as the Lord of heaven and earth;  more than that, as OUR PERSONAL LORD!  Sing His praises!  Acknowledge His Lordship.  Surrender again to Him!

2.   Cleanse our personal temple!  

The most important aspect of this would be to do a personal inventory of our spiritual lives.  Are we as fervent as we have been previously?  Have we lost our first love?  Are we effective in witnessing for Christ by singing aloud His praises?  Have we allowed Him to be crowded out by other, less critical, concerns?  Do we need to recommit?  This process will likely take some time.  Will you set time aside today or tomorrow to cleanse your temple? 

Secondarily, it may also mean that we should literally clean house of things that might entrap us or lead us astray.  This might involve us in changing habits that have come to control us.  It might mean bagging up distracting materials and placing them on the curb.  Or, it is more likely to involve us in deleting computer (or phone) files that are doing us spiritual harm.  

Some of this will be simple but indicting.  

• How many times a day do I check Facebook?  - can be compared to - How much scripture have I read today?
• How much screen-time have I had today? - can be compared to - How much time have I been before the Lord in prayer today?
• How many hours of television have I consumed today? - can be compared to - In what ways have I served the Lord today?

It is likely that all of us will emerge from this kind of testing with new resolutions.  Perhaps we can be a catalyst for renewed vision and practice in our family, church and community?  

Lord, possess me now, I pray,

Make me wholly Thine today;

Gladly do I own Thy sway,

with Thy Spirit fill me.

Lord, I yield myself to Thee, 

All I am or hope to be

Now and through eternity,

with Thy Spirit fill me.

Lord, commission me, I pray!

Souls are dying every day;

Help me lead them in Your way, 

with Thy Spirit fill me.

With Thy Spirit fill me,

'With Thy Spirit fill me;

Make me wholly Thine, I pray,

With Thy Spirit fill me.

[Oswald J. Smith, 1940]

If you're my age or older, you were probably singing this - right?

FIRST DAY ON THE TRAIL!

 Three years ago, today, I started hiking the Appalachian Trail in Georgia.  

Actually, I began the 'approach trail' that starts in Amacolola Falls and takes you up the falls and then eight miles  toward the summit of Springer Mountain.  That's where the AT actually begins.  Many people skip the approach trail, since it really doesn't count.

But, being a purist, I decided to start at the beginning.  BIG MISTAKE!

First, you sign in at the Amicalola Falls center with the rangers - so they know that you're going to be on the trail.  They give you tips and suggestions and test you a bit to make sure you know what's ahead.  That takes over half-an-hour.  I arrived from Atlanta after noon, so I was already under pressure to make it to the top before nightfall.  

When you leave the ranger's station, you pass through a stone gate where a selfie is standard operation.  Then you walk a couple of hundred yards up a slow grade to the stairs that crisscross the falls repeatedly leading to the top.  Six hundred steps!  With a backpack that you're not used to that weighs about forty-five pounds!  I must have stopped to breathe at least fifteen times!  By the time I reached the top of the falls, I was exhausted and well over an hour had passed.  😂

Then the trail begins a gradual ascent with few flat spaces, weaving you gradually to Springer Mountain.  I was overwhelmed at the constant incline!  Again, even though I'd put myself through a fairly aggressive training program, I had to stop frequently to rest and breathe!  

My pace was slow.  Several weeks later I reported to my brother that I thought about quitting probably three hundred times - THE FIRST DAY!  

As I was climbing this mountain I could sense that I was losing my daylight and was not going to reach the first shelter (near the top).  I began looking for a place to set up my tent and camp for the night.  Eventually, I spied a spot about fifty yards off the trail that looked reasonably level.  I climbed over downed trees until I reached it and cleared a small space.  I set my pack down and began to unpack.  

I unrolled my tent and began to set it up.  I decided not to use the tent pegs - figuring that I'd be fine.  I used my stove to prepare some hot water and made my supper.  During this time two groups passed me on the trail  They were younger men travelling in pairs.  We hollered greetings as they passed.

As dark descended, I sat up for a while wondering what I had gotten myself into.  I had never dreamed that it would be so hard!  It never occurred to me that I wouldn't reach the camping area that first day.  I was already behind!

When it was fully dark, I crawled into the tent and into my sleeping bag and went to sleep.  As I was going to sleep, I realized that the ground wasn't as flat as I had thought.  All night long, I had to scoot myself back up the grade before dropping back into sleep!  It was a horrible night!  

Finally, daylight came.  Although I was not well rested, I was anxious to get up and have breakfast and get started.  I heated water and made a bowl of  oatmeal with some dried fruit - nasty stuff, hard to swallow.  I was already low on water...

Then I broke down my tent which had nearly turned upside down overnight.  When I finally had everything packed, I was shocked at how late in the morning it already was!  I crawled over the downed trees again, found the trail and restarted the climb.  After going about two hundred yards, I came to a kind of summit where the trail leveled out for a bit.  There, on both sides of the trail were beautiful, flat, much-used camping spots!  Two of the young men were frying eggs on one side and two on the other side were eating pancakes and bacon.  They hollered greetings to me and I dragged past them.

Quickly, the trail continued its upward climb.  Later in the morning both sets of guys passed me on the trail.  They made it look so easy!  Several others passed me as they made their way down the trail toward the falls.  Each stopped to talk briefly.  I've learned since that lots of people just hike the approach trail, spend one night and then return to their vehicles.  That thought crossed my mind many times that second day.  By mid afternoon, I had to make my first major decision.

Should I stay at the shelter near the top of Springer, or sign-in at Springer and keep going six more miles to the trail's first shelter/camping area?  

I pressed on...

Fortunately, after peaking at Springer, the trail descended for a while.  It felt wonderful to be stepping down instead of up!  When I did hit grades, they were usually fairly short and not as steep as the approach trail.  As dusk arrived, I saw the shelter off to the right of the trail.  Heaven couldn't have looked better!

It was packed!  The temperature had dropped to forty.  There were about thirty people ahead of me!  The shelter only slept fifteen - on two levels, so it was obviously full!  A freezing rain had begun to fall.  Tents were set up everywhere.  People were cooking their meals.  Almost everyone had more modern equipment than I had brought.  Their meals looked and smelled delicious.  There were two small tables for cooking and a few places to sit.  After setting my tent up and unpacking, a small area had cleared and I began cooking my meal.  I think I made spaghetti and meat sauce - all of which I had dried in my garage in the months preceding my hike.

I used the tent pegs every night after my first terrible night.  I also was far more careful to try to find a truly flat space.  

I was finally ON THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL!  Let the fun begin!