The Prince of Peace!

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Palm Sunday

Is 50:4-7; Phil 2: 6-11; Mk 14:1-15:47

Today we celebrate Palm Sunday, the gateway event to Holy Week. 

Though there are many rich symbolisms, if we cannot overlook one, it is ‘Jesus riding the donkey.’

The Donkey Symbolism: Jesus rides the donkey as it was prophesied about him in the Old Testament (Zechar 9:9). Secondly, Jesus is the prince of peace. In olden times, the messengers of peace rode donkeys because horses were more associated with war (1 Kg 1:33 – King Solomon riding the donkey as he was elected the new king of Israel). We can think of the term ‘warhorse’ for contrast. Thirdly, Christ’s journey on the donkey reminds us of a father’s willingness to sacrifice his only son. Isaac, a type of Christ, rides a donkey so that Abraham would sacrifice his son for the Lord (Gen 22:3). 

The Relation to the Life of Jesus: The beginning and end of Jesus’ life are more connected to the image of a donkey. It was a donkey that carried Jesus when he was in Mary’s womb – when Mary visited her elderly cousin Elizabeth. Again, a donkey carried Jesus when his parents travelled to Bethlehem just before his birth. After his birth, when the parents of Jesus escaped to Egypt, they rode a donkey. The presence of donkeys in both infancy and passion narratives holds a Christological significance in the Bible. 

The Message: The donkey that stands for all ordinariness assumes greater significance in the life of Jesus. The donkey, the symbol of peace, carried Jesus, the prince of peace. As Christians, we are carriers of Christ in our name. But do we carry Jesus in our lives? The biblical donkey, just like who it carried – the prince of peace – was a symbol of peace. As followers of Jesus, are we peacebuilders? It is said of the biblical donkey that “The Lord needs this.” The sentence is repeated twice. Are we the ones of whom it can be said that the “Lord needs this”? 

Jesus is aware of the crowd’s swinging shouts – from ‘Hosanna’ to ‘Crucify Him.’

Unperturbed by anything that happened around, Jesus, who rode the symbol of peace, set his eyes firmly on the cross from where he would make ‘peace and reconciliation.’ 

The donkey that carried Jesus journeyed like him, unperturbed by the crowd’s shifting shouts. 

The donkey prefigures what Jesus is going to carry out on the cross. 

The peace that was forged on the cross was possible through the blood, pain, and suffering of the Lord. 

The donkey must have felt the heaviness that Jesus felt intensely as he neared Jerusalem. 

Can we then sing like Francis of Assisi, ‘Lord, make me an instrument of your peace?’

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar