Palm Sunday
Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-28; Mark 11, 1-11
“Donkey Fetchers”
Rev. Tom Willadsen
“Donkey Fetchers” The Reverend Doctor Thomas C. Willadsen, Spanish Springs Presbyterian Church, Sparks, Nevada, Palm Sunday, March 24, 2024, Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29, Mark 11:1-11
Dateline—Washington, D.C. Associated Press, January 20, 2025
The 46th President of the United States was inaugurated this morning, a festive day in our nation’s capital. Marching bands and drill teams from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, Samoa and the District of Columbia participated in the inaugural parade, which stretched more than three miles down Pennsylvania Avenue.
The president rode in a specially equipped Lincoln Town Car which was driven by Ken Wiggins, a thirty-year member of the Secret Service. Mr. Wiggins, 57, a native of Zanesville, Ohio, received two bronze stars for valor displayed in combat during three tours of duty in the First Gulf War. Wiggins participated in ROTC at Ohio University, from which he graduated with highest honors in 1989.
The 2025 model Lincoln Town Car which Mr. Wiggins drove was fitted with armor plating, shatter-proof glass, and an engine which is capable of reaching 80 miles an hour in under four seconds. Total cost of the vehicle, including design modifications, is more than $4 million.
The National Park Service estimated that more than 200,000 people braved the icy winds and sub-freezing temperatures, lining both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue for the entire length of the parade. Many waved American flags and spontaneous chants of USA! USA! could be heard during the three-hour spectacle.
As the president mounted the platform, the band from the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs played “Hail to the Chief,” inspiring renewed cheering from the crowd gathered to witness the president’s taking the oath of office, administered by John Roberts, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
“And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late,” he returned to the White House for a dinner with his family and closest advisors.
It’s Palm Sunday. And we all know the story of Palm Sunday. It’s so familiar that we skip over the story. “Palm Sunday, right,” we say. “Jesus rides a donkey up to the Temple. People wave palm branches. Everyone shouts, “Hosanna!” They spread their cloaks on the road.” It’s a fun day at church. Sometimes—in other churches I’ve served—sword fights break out in the choir. The music is especially festive and upbeat. And we notice this more because things have been a little somber during Lent.
But here’s a funny thing about what Mark’s gospel says about Palm Sunday: there’s a lot of information about how Jesus instructs two disciples to find a colt for him to ride. In fact, the only words Jesus speaks on Palm Sunday in Mark’s gospel are his instructions to the two disciples. [And if you want to use scripture to prove that Jesus was a horse thief, here’s the text: Mark 11:6.]
There is one verse of introduction, telling the reader where Jesus and his disciples were, approaching Jerusalem, near the Mount of Olives….
Then there are six verses about getting the colt….
Then there are three verses about what the people who were gathered along the road from the Mount of Olives to the Temple did. And they knew what to do! They knew their scripture. They knew the right things to say: “Hosanna!” which literally means, “Save us!” grammatically it’s a command. But in this context it also expresses the joy that the people felt and knew, seeing Jesus riding a colt, fulfilling the prophesy about the coming of the Messiah found in the Book of the Prophet Zechariah. Maybe we could update “Hosanna!” to something like “Hurray! We’re saved!” You find that in verse 25 of the lesson from the Psalms this morning, the part where it says, “Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!” And the crowd goes on to quote the psalm some:
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
The people knew the drill, they knew exactly what to do when they see scripture fulfilled. And for three of the eleven verses they do it.
But the last verse, the end of the story of Palm Sunday in Mark is a disappointment, Here’s what it feels like to me: You know how on the 4th of July people sit in the park and watch the fireworks? And some of the fireworks go up and make huge, long, colorful streams in the night sky. And other go up and explode with a quick flash and a loud BOOM? I like the BOOMs. I like the percussive feeling in my chest. It startles me, but it’s REAL. You know you’ve experienced fireworks when you feel them. Some others go up and flash briefly and go pop. Palm Sunday, in Mark’s gospel is a pop not a BOOM. I want a BOOM. The people who were waving the palm branches wanted a BOOM. The Roman authorities, and the Jewish leaders, feared a BOOM and were getting ready for one.
Pop. Jesus got to the Temple, looked at his watch and called it a day.
It would be just like the president walking away from the inauguration. What would happen if at the last minute he didn’t take the oath of office? Would the former president remain in office? Can you imagine? There would be a constitutional crisis. But there would also be disappointment. Remember, 200,000 people lined Pennsylvania Avenue to witness this moment in history, to see the peaceful transfer of power. But no, the parade went too long, or the president chickened out. Pop.
Mark’s gospel starts out, not with Jeus being born in a stable, but with words foretelling his arrival, prophetic words from the Book of Isaiah, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” These words are about Jesus, but to us.
When we ordain and install officers in the Presbyterian church we ask them to promise to serve the people with energy, intelligence, imagination and love. And those are inspiring words, stirring words that energize and motivate us. And a lot of times serving the people is a lot like driving the president’s car in the inaugural parade. Or going to a team meeting to plan up coming mission efforts. Or mucking around in a stable to find a colt. Why? Because the Lord needs one, that’s why!
Did you notice that we don’t know which disciples Jesus assigned to get the colt? I’m thinking it was James and John though, at least the snide part of me hopes it was. Just a few days before James and John asked Jesus if they could sit at his side in glory—It’s as though they’re asking, “Jesus? Could you make each of us corporate vice-presidents? Please?”
And then, in my snarky vision of the story, these two status-glommers are the ones Jesus sends ahead to “borrow” a burro for him. “You want glory? Here’s your glory, get me a donkey!”
Early in my ministry a retired and much respected minister from my hometown told me, “Nothing that the church needs to have done is beneath you.” I return to those words often. There are those who say “servant leadership” is a contradiction, an oxymoron. But that’s not true. Following Jesus means that sometimes He asks you to be a donkey fetcher. Or do the dishes. Or run the vacuum cleaner. Or visit someone in jail, or the hospital, or a nursing home. Maybe someone you don’t know. Or someone who used to know you, but has since lost her memory.
Ken Wiggins was a donkey fetcher. He drove the car for the president one day. The idea that he was the focus of the press coverage of the inauguration is silly. And who cares about the car the president rode in? And the bands in the parade? They’re not the point, are they?
And none of the people who waved their branches is named. We don’t even know how many there were. All it says is “many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.” Some walked ahead, some followed, they all shouted, “Hosanna!” They were preparing the Way of the Lord. Shouters, palm wavers, donkey fetchers, servant leaders. Using their arms and voices and hands….
We know where to put the focus of attention on Palm Sunday, the one humbly riding the donkey, right? But scripture tells us that the ones who fetch the donkey, the ones who shout and wave are where the action is. In fact, aside from giving instruction in animal procurement, Jesus is silent. And not the actor, but the one acted on. And at the moment when he’s got everyone’s attention. Pop.
Our task ahead this week, preparing the Way, is a difficult and confusing one. The King that we want Jesus to be does not appear. The salvation we have longed for is nowhere to be found. The hopes and fears of all the year will lie dead in a rock tomb Friday by sundown.
And we donkey fetchers will not even be grave diggers. By then we will have abandoned the One whose arrival we celebrate today with a festive procession.