Untying the donkey...

He was completely drunk and I had no idea how he got inside, yet there he was standing in front of me smelling as badly as anybody I have ever encountered.  Maybe there was no bathroom in the tavern next to the church or maybe he thought it was the confessional, but I encountered him as he was leaving the bathroom.  He could barely walk and with his British slurred from his consumption of alcohol it rendered communication a near impossibility.  I kindly escorted him to the door where he sat down on the brick steps and passed out.  A few minutes later I walked into the bathroom and was completely disgusted.  I think he relieved himself in everyplace in that bathroom other than the toilet.  I know this is gross, but he had wiped his defecation all over the walls, sinks, mirrors... pretty much everywhere.  I walked out, trying not to hurl and waited for the pastor to get back.  Mind you, I was just a summer missionary.  I was a volunteer, and there was no way I was going to clean that up!  Surely they had somebody that would come and do that.  Maybe like one of those people that come in and clean after floods or house fires.  As gross as that bathroom was, maybe they should have just torched it.  

The pastor returned only about 30 minutes later and I filled him in on what had happened.  After checking out the bathroom he walked silently to a custodians closet, got out a bucket and mop and started heading back to the bathroom.  I reluctantly offered to help.  His response has remained with me for over 16 years now.  “David, if you wanted to do something about it, you already would have.”  

Rewind back a couple thousand years when Jesus was about to enter Jerusalem.  You are probably familiar with the story of Jesus riding in on a colt, a young donkey with people spreading tree branches and their cloaks on the road for it to walk on.  The people were calling out, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” and “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”  It’s the scene we often see depicted on Palm Sunday as the children’s choir walk in waving their palm branches back and singing something like Blessed be the Name of the Lord.  Hit the pause button right there and ask yourself this question, “Where did the donkey come from?”  

Of course, most of you remember that Jesus had sent two disciples into town to get a donkey.  He told him where to find it and what to do if someone asked where they were taking the donkey. Matthew 21:2-3 “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” OK, hit the pause button once again.  Ask yourself this question, “What if Jesus asked me to go untie a donkey?”  Where is the glory in that?  Just prior to this passage Jesus had healed two blind men... now that’s where I want to be.  I want to be near the action, not untying some stupid donkey.  But verse 6 tells us that the disciples went and did just as Jesus instructed them.  

Ok, fast forward back to 1996 with the drunk in the bathroom and the pastor making me feel about as small as humanly possible.  With that one sentence he had revealed my soul.  I loved Jesus, but not enough to clean up poop!  There are limits to what I am willing to do.  I made a commitment that day that from then on, I would never be too good to do anything for God... and I have been tested on that many times.  Probably the worst was when a kid at VBS exited the bounce house so he could hurl his weight in spaghetti.  Was it disgusting?  Did it stink?  Did I struggle from adding to it?  Yes.  Was I too good to clean it up? No.  

You know, when we commit to following Christ, it doesn’t mean that we always get to be the alter boy leading the processional. It doesn’t mean that we get to be the kid at VBS who gets to hold up the Bible as we all say our pledge to it.  What it does mean is that when Jesus tells us to untie the donkey our response is the same as the disciples who “went and did just as Jesus instructed them.”  

Fast forward to today.  What is God telling you to do?  Not sure?  How about committing now that when He speaks you will go and do just as He instructs you to... even if that means untying the donkey.  

-dp