The Man Who Gave (Palm Sunday)

The Man Who Gave... Matthew 21:1-11

When I get to heaven, there’s someone that I want to meet. You go ahead and swap stories with Mary or talk doctrine with Paul. See if you can find Abraham, Moses, maybe Noah. I’m sure someone here is gonna do their best to find Lydia, or Peter, or maybe even Luke. Now, I don’t want any of you to worry… I’ll catch up with you soon enough. But first, right after I see Jesus, I want to meet the guy who gave Jesus his donkey.

Of course, I can’t tell you his name, don’t have a clue what he looks like. In fact, there’s only one thing that I can tell you about him at all... and that’s what he gave. He gave his colt to Jesus on the Sunday he entered Jerusalem.

And what a Sunday it was! Can you imagine? A huge crowd from Jerusalem, lining the streets, shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Of course what they were actually shouting was, “save us, son of David, save us!”

Yeah, when I get to heaven… I want to meet the man who gave his donkeys to Jesus. There are so many questions that I want to ask him… Like…

How did you know? How did you know that it was the Messiah who had need of your donkey? Did you have a vision? Was it an angel that we’re not told about? Did the Lord send you a message in a dream, like God’s Word tells us he did for others?

I wanna ask him these things, because I know it must’ve been hard for him to give up his donkey/colt. It had to have been difficult to give up something so valuable. It would be like us giving-up our car! I want to know because, it’s often hard for me to give up things for Jesus. There are times when God wants something from me, and I know exactly what he wants, I just pretend like I don’t think he needs it… Or I tell myself He couldn’t possibly want anything from me.

I can’t help but wonder how this man must’ve felt. How it must have felt when he looked and saw Jesus riding on the back of his donkey... the colt that lived in his barn? I mean... think about that: Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, riding on his animal. I wonder if he was proud, or surprised, or maybe even annoyed. I mean, after all, why did Jesus need his donkey? Why didn’t Jesus use some other donkey instead?

I also can’t help but wonder if this man even had an inkling of an idea that it was the Messiah who needed his animal. I wonder if he had any concept that his generosity would be used for such a noble and honorable purpose?

Was he even remotely aware that all 4 gospels would tell of his gift? And could it have possibly crossed his mind that a couple of thousand years later a curious preacher from West Point, Georgia would be pondering his story?

Of course, as I ponder his story, I can’t help but ponder my own. Sometimes I get the impression that God wants me to give him something, to offer him something, maybe it’s something I own... or maybe it’s my time, maybe it’s my meager talents. But for whatever reason I can conjure up at the moment, I still don’t give him what he asks. I just don’t know for sure. I haven’t seen a sign, or heard a voice. And I tell myself that if God wanted it, he would ask! Of course, He has asked, and commanded, in His Word that I surrender such things to him.

And when I fail to surrender, and give what God demands of me, I realize that I may have missed my chance. I may have honestly missed my chance to serve God in a meaningful way because I refuse to give.

Thankfully, there are times (far too few times), when I have clearly heard God‘s Word, and I’ve offered my gifts to Christ... and in doing so, I have felt honored that God would choose my humble gift to carry his gospel to another place. But then, there are other times that I wonder in my little offerings make any difference at all.

Maybe you have questions like these, too? I don’t know.

But, I do know, for certain, that all of us have something to give. It may not be a grand gift. But it doesn’t have to be! It simply has to be your gift! Maybe you can sing… or cook… or speak Spanish… or volunteer your time. I don’t know what your donkey is.

But I do know this… Whatever it is, your gift belongs to Jesus.

And it really does belong to him, doesn’t it? He is our Lord, everything we have and everything that we are belongs to Christ. In fact, the original wording of Jesus’ instructions to this disciples is proof of what I’m saying: Jesus said, if anyone ask you why you are taking the donkey, you are to say, “it’s Lord is in need.”

Jesus’ words, here are the language of a royal levy. It was a requirement of citizens to “handover” to the King, any item or service that he, or one of his emissaries, might request. So by making this statement, Jesus was claiming to be King! He’s speaking as one with authority. And by declaring His Kingship, he has a right to the possessions of his subjects.

Who knows? It could be, that God wants to use your gift. It could be that Jesus wants to enter the walls of another city, another nation, another heart, using what YOU have to offer. The question is, will we? Will you and I let Jesus have our colt? Will we “give-up” the things that we see as ours, for Christ, and for Christ’s sake… Or will we hesitate? Or worse still, will we reject Jesus altogether?

God‘s word tells us that God loves a cheerful giver. But I actually think it goes much further than that… Because the way I see it, is God loves an extravagant giver.

Consider the temple in Jerusalem. There was nothing cheap or standard or ordinary about it. It was made of marble, and gold, and the finest materials available. It was first class all the way. An extravagant place, built in honor and respect of an extravagant God.

The New Jerusalem that is described in the book of Revelation… Streets paved with gold, walls laced with every precious stone known to man. It’s gonna be a little extravagant, don’t you think?

And the truth is the people who came before us understood something about extravagant giving to God. Have you ever entered into a cathedral? Great places, worship… where you feel an immediate sense of awe, and reverence. I would argue that our Sanctuary is not unlike that. A beautiful, extravagantly offered, sacrifice… To a king who deserves all of that, & more.

But, then, when it comes to extravagant giving, there’s no way we can fail to mention the cross. I would say the cross was a bit extravagant in its own way. God offering His one and only Son, to suffer and bleed, and die for the likes of us? I think God‘s gift is (by far) the most extravagant of all.

Of course, the guy with the donkey was just one in a long line of people who gave small gifts to a big God. The Bible offers quite a collection of such people…

Mary with her broken bottle of perfume...There is Rehab’s rope, Paul’s basket, David’s slinging, Sampson‘s job bone. You’ll also find the staff that split the Red Sea, and smoke the rock. You can rest your head up on the cloak that gave comfort to Christ in the boat, and you could run your hands along the smooth surface of the manger. Or you could even set your shoulder beneath the heavy wood of the Roman cross.

I’m not saying that any of these items will be in heaven… I would actually suggest that they will not be. But one thing is certain, the people who used these items… And the people who offered these gifts to God, for His glory, will be there.

Jesus entered Jerusalem, in triumph as Palm branches and robes covered the streets: but soon the shouts of, “Hosanna... save us, son of David” would be replaced, by the demand to, “crucify him… give us, Barabbas… Crucify him.”

What do you and I possess that we must give to Jesus? Is there anything too good, is anything too valuable to offer the King of kings, Lord of Lords, who gave his all for you and me?