The story of Jesus borrowing a colt hit me in a new way this morning.
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples 2 and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” 4 And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. 5 And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go.
Mark 11:1-6
(Did you just read all that? If not, I can totally relate!) Why on earth do we have so much tedious detail about this scene? I’ve always kind of skimmed through it, thinking “yeah yeah, they got the donkey, now let’s get to the point: Jesus rides into Jerusalem triumphantly as king.”
But today I read it slowly, and it struck me that all this detail is in the Bible for a reason. God cares about it. He cares about me knowing it. It’s even in three of the four gospels.
I’m sure there’s more to be gleaned from this scene, but what I grasped today is that it makes a point: life with Jesus is not a production.
The difference between a production and real life is this: when you are in the audience for a show, you don’t see what’s going on in the background. Things just magically appear on the stage and it’s all featured with a spotlight.
But in real life, you’re submerged in the muck of the details for weeks and months before you get to that triumphant moment. You see all the ropes and knots and side conversations happening, and they don’t seem so significant at the time. But they are. Every “boom” moment is built on a foundation of real-life details, and they are an equally valid part of God’s story. He writes them down.
That’s where I feel like I might be sitting this morning. I’m right in the middle of the “Acquisition of Donkey” chapter. I’m not totally sure where it’s all going or why. What are we doing with this donkey? No idea. How can we untie these knots somebody else tied? Working on it. Bystanders are asking us where we’re headed. No idea. But somehow God is at work even in these details, giving us favor, moving things along. It’s his story. We just have to do the thing he has set before us today.
And so I’m off, back to wrangling my own little donkey.