Pastor David Gruenwald provided a new sight to me regarding Jesus entry into Jerusalem.  Jesus directed his disciples, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt timed, on which no one has ever sat.” (Mark 11: 2)

Riding a donkey was not an unusual sight.  But this was no ordinary donkey.  It was fresh, new, and, I would add, unbroken.  When people brought their sacrifices to God, they were to be unblemished, fresh, and new.  Only first grade offerings. The utensils used in the temple were designated for temple use alone.  Jesus was buried in a new and unused tomb.

What does an unbroken and untamed donkey have to do with us?  We too at one time were untamed.  According to Isaiah, “We all…have gone astray.”  St. Paul adds, “We all have sinned and come short of God’s glory.”

But now Jesus is alive in us.  How so?  In baptism God used ordinary water to wash us clean of our sin.  Through the presence of the Holy Spirit God tames (breaks?) us.   Ordinary people made fresh and new that Christ may go out into the world through our ordinary daily life and be refreshers and renewers of life in this broken world. Christ feeds us with ordinary bread and wine made new and fresh in to his body and blood.

As we read in Paul’s words, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…”