Someone stole my donkey!

The focus of Palm Sunday is the Passion.  The retelling of this incredible story is always certain to be an emotional rollercoaster and the telling never diminishes in its strength and magnificence.  This year was no exception.

But....

This year I was distracted.  Not from something typical like many of my fellow 21st Century brethren, but from something definitely non-secular.  My inability to reconcile ancient scripture with modern behaviors was causing major distraction.  I believe that we are supposed to learn something new every year from our Lenten Journey and this year my focus is on a seemingly minor point.  Someone stole a donkey for Jesus.

Yep!  That's what I got stuck on.  Now, according to Scripture the donkey was freely given to the disciples for Jesus to ride upon.  The man that said yes to this request may have been acting in a way that made sense to him, but today in 2015 this is just plain weird.  Think about it for a minute.  If a total stranger came up to you and asked to use your car so that a strange man could ride on it for an impromptu parade...what would you say? 

Wait!  Don't answer yet!

How many times have you closed the door on a Baptist missionary?  Or more likely you pretended you weren't home so you didn't have to talk to the Mormon missionary knocking on your door, eh?  Have you ever ignored the homeless guy handing out religious pamphlets?  Did you ever pretend not to hear volunteers trying to raise funds for a charitable event?

I have.  That's how I knew what to write there.  I've done these things and I'm ashamed of them in hindsight.  Will I ever do it again?  Probably.  I can find any number of excuses for not changing my ways and this is what is causing me difficulties on this years' Lenten Journey.  Would I recognize Jesus or his emissary?  Would I give up my possession based solely on Faith alone?

In 2015, where religious loonies abound and the order of the day is "eat or be eaten" I'm more likely to hide, ignore, and hide again.  Trust is a hard pill to swallow and Faith is even more difficult to accept.  I've tried humor to deflect the issue and I have gone out of my way to pretend this isn't applicable to me.  Confronted by Scripture, I am failing.  Lucky for me I'm not alone on this sinking ship.  Most of my friends, fellow parishioners, community members, and fellow travelers are sinking right along with me.  We have work to do now that Lent is over and another year looms before us.

Let us hope that change in compassion for our fellow travelers, however small in stature or grand in scheme can happen before the next Lenten season when I should be moving on to a new lesson rather than repeating this one all over again.

And if you happen to see a donkey wandering around your neighborhood and you don't know why...you probably missed the parade.  Let's all try harder next time.

Life is Good.