The Donkey on Palm Sunday
“The Donkey” by Gilbert K. Chesterton
When fishes flew and forests walked And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born;
With monstrous head and sickening cry And ears like errant wings, The devil’s walking parody On all four-footed things.
The tattered outlaw of the earth, Of ancient crooked will; Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.
Fools! For I also had my hour; One far fierce hour and sweet: There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.
“And palms before my feet”— the humble donkey that carried Jesus Christ in His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday shared in the glory of palm fronds waving for the King of the Jews. But why could He who is God not have ridden on a magnificent horse to herald His coming? Ah, but that would have been Pride — inconsistent and incompatible with the be-all and end-all God. Thus, it would be the same donkey that carried the Messiah to the stable in Bethlehem where He was born on Christmas Day, as it was the “tattered outlaw of the earth” that brought the Redeemer to Jerusalem and unto the Pharisaic mob that crucified Him on the Mountain of Olives.
Life and Death — and life again after death. God’s gift of redemption and resurrection is the fulcrum of Christian faith.
“For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal Life (John 3: 16).” And the palm fronds blessed on Palm Sunday are kept to be burnt for the ashes crossed on foreheads on next year’s Ash Wednesday (the start of the 40-day Lenten season).
Man’s sin is Pride, thinking he can do things by his own power — “being like God,” just as Satan, who was at first the good angel Lucifer, sinned in Pride, thinking he was equal to God and rejected God (Ibid.). And the Devil, in envy of Man, who has been given “second chance” in Redemption and Resurrection, continues to tempt Man to be “like God (Genesis 3:15; Wisdom 2:24).”
Pride is a sin based on undue and inappropriate appreciation of one’s self worth. It is top of the list among the seven capital sins ( Pride, Greed, Gluttony, Lust, Envy, and Anger). It is listed first because Pride is widely considered the most serious of sins and often leads to the committing of other capital sins. It is manifest in vanity and narcissism about one’s appearance, intelligence, status, etc. ( aquinasandmore.com). And for this Gilbert K. Chesterton must have written his poem, “The Donkey.”
But how many “little kings”— today’s leaders, famous persons, rich businessmen, and beautiful people would “ride a donkey” in similar paradox of Chesterton’s quixotic donkey enjoying downplayed self-worth versus secret pride? And it does not help much for humility when sycophantic supporters would wave palm fronds to fan already- bloated
egos, and lay their cloaks on the road where their idol would pass, just as the star- struck people lauded Jesus Christ. But can the “little kings” of this world say “Begone Satan!” like when the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor: “All this I will give you,” (the devil) said, “if you will bow down and worship me (Matthew 4: 9-10).”
In the world today is a culture of necessary pride and excessive self- worth, perhaps surreptitiously having crept up from obsession with rights and entitlements for self-preservation and aggrandizement. Could it be that an overwrought concept of democracy and its freedoms, and attendant jealous socioeconomics have created a monster in wants having become needs, in the unavoidable comparisons of standards and status?
“Beware the return of ‘strongmen’ world leaders,” a disturbing editorial, among others similarlytuned said ( The Guardian.com, 6.8.2014). “In Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Libya and elsewhere, political strength increasingly means tyranny, and western weakness is allowing it to happen,” the subhead read (Ibid.).
From Moscow to Manila, Beijing to Budapest, Ankara to Delhi, the nationalist “strongman” leader is back in fashion ( Financial Times, 10.31.2016). FT called the elevation of President Xi Jinping to the “core leadership” of the Communist party a “personalized autocracy (Ibid.).” “President Xi played host to Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, who came to power through an election but whose swaggering style and scant respect for the law is typical of the new breed of autocrats. The patron saint of the world’s strongman leaders is Vladimir Putin of Russia, whose personalized rule (18 years) still retains some of the outward trappings of democracy… Alarmingly, (now US President Donald) Trump’s political style has most in common with some of the most autocratic strongmen, such as Presidents Putin and Erdogan (Ibid.).” Men who want to be God.
No one rides a donkey anymore, G.K. Chesterton.
God’s gift of redemption and resurrection is the fulcrum of Christian faith.