Baby Ass

Bet that title got your attention....

It was brought up in Pastor Keith Porter's sermon today (www.hillsdalefmc.org) about when Jesus was riding the donkey to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, that it was miraculous that the donkey behaved perfectly (or so we assume, since there was no mention of it being unruly).  This is because the young donkey was unbroken, had never been ridden, and there were hoards of people surrounding it while Jesus was on its back.  PK explained that the ass was aware of Jesus and as a part of nature, the donkey was not unruly because it was connected to the Master of the Universe (not He-Man, either), its very Creator and Savior of all the earth.  PK said we can never understand why the donkey behaved in this way because we are constantly fighting nature.

When he first brought this up, I thought something else.  I thought, hmmm, I'm like that donkey when I let Jesus lead me.  I can be docile and behave and pleasing to him, following the path on which he leads me.  But, then, I'm like - get OFF my back, Jesus!  I can't be perfect all the time!  I don't WANT to go up the Mount of Olives...I want to slide down the ridge and be by myself.  So became the people who crucified him.  I can't imagine that I would have been one of those people, but wouldn't I have been?  I murder him every day when I sin and don't repent.  

Praise to the Father for his patience.  If I were my parent, I would have drowned me a long time ago.  Maybe he feels that way sometimes too - disgusted at his creation...Jesus wept for Jerusalem, even though these people were dirt rockets who had turned their backs on the one true God.  I don't cry for the lost; do you?  Maybe if we did, we'd be more concerned about the witness we carry every day for him.  Is it adequate to make a difference?