“Go to the village ahead of you,” He told them, “and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt beside her. Untie them and bring them to Me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” Matthew 21:2-3
I really love donkeys. They are cute and stubborn and not like horses at all. They are more aggressive, bold, and sometimes will actually kill a coyote. Donkeys just, I don’t know, it’s hard to fully tame a donkey, even though we’ve been trying to do it for centuries. They are a bit like cats that way.
The tale of grand theft donkey always makes me laugh. What I appreciate there is that the Lord often changes the “rules” on you. I mean, go steal a donkey. The Lord has need of it. Simple, direct, cut, and dry.
Morally, technically, everything belongs to the Lord anyway, so it isn’t actually “grand theft donkey.” Besides He did say If anyone says anything to you… just tell them the Lord has need of it. Makes perfect sense to me, but this is one of those times where you just want to explain the Lord’s word to Him, mention the part about how, “thy shall not steal.”
The Lord is very kind to us. He will never contradict His word, nor cause you to go against your conscience, nor fail to provide as much confirmation as you need, nor leave you hanging in moral ambiguity. The Lord knows us and He is kind to us.
It’s a bit funny, I would happily “steal” a donkey. You may call me a horse thief if you like, but my conscience would not raise much of a fuss. There are many other things in this walk of life however, that have given me great pause. Emotional things, spiritual things, nothing illegal, just some things that have felt so counter intuitive. Things that have triggered doubt, sent me back to the word.
Often, I was simply lost in the “rules,” lost in misunderstanding, lost in misinterpretations. When you’re actually in prayer, when you’re listening to His still quiet voice, it’s simply unmistakable. That concept often makes people very nervous. We want a manual, we want a handbook, we want to refer God Himself to section 12, sub-paragraph 7b.
Also, we’re rather concerned some nutty woman may start nipping the cooking sherry, now convinced the voice of God Himself has instructed her to go steal some donkeys. Which He may well have, and if He has, I will cheerfully go steal some donkeys for the Lord. So perhaps you really should be afraid, one never knows what I might do…..
I’m pretty firmly rooted, rooted in the Lord, rooted in reason and common sense, so I have learned to trust in His voice. Perhaps if I didn’t have that root, that grounding, that tether, it would be a different matter. Just the same, I am really bothered by those who cling to the “rules,” for dear life, because that demonstrates a reliance on our own understanding, rather than trusting in the Lord’s leadership.
Life often comes at you from six different directions at once, each circumstance is different, and we can’t always see each piece of the puzzle coming around the next bend. There isn’t a map, there is a Shepherd.
My favorite verse in life is, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” -Proverbs 3:5-6
Good post; Jesus definitely didn’t steal it but permission was granted
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Another entertaining piece of wit I really enjoyed. I’ve come to well appreciate your prankster twists on theology!
Laying precept upon precept, the most important of which is – “He will never contradict His word, nor cause you to go against your conscience, nor fail to provide as much confirmation as you need, nor leave you hanging in moral ambiguity”. That being understood and firmly established, let us move on to perfection…
While it is definitely a cute hook (it drew me in), ‘stealing’ the donkey could never have been the Lord’s intent. Knowing He would never contradict His Word (thou shall not steal), I’m inclined to immediately dismiss the thievery idea. My pursuit of an alternative comprehension starts in contemplation of a logical stream of ‘cause & effect’ brainstorming – a sequence of ‘IF/THEN’ scenarios.
Therefore, those who cling to THOSE rules for dear life, demonstrate a reliance NOT on their own understanding, but trusting in the Lord’s leadership THROUGH His Word. Since He said, “Thou shall not steal”, He NEVER will lead you to steal. So, another interpretation is required. Perhaps ‘borrow’ the burro?
The fact that the disciples were told, “If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once” indicates a probable prior knowledge by the Lord concerning the colt. Knowing its specific location presumes familiarity with its owner. Perhaps an arrangement had been met?
At the very least, ‘Grand Theft Auto’ gets reduced to simple ‘Joy Ride’. LOL!
Of course, all this from a strictly scientific approach employing systematic theology. Rules of engagement for the Scriptural scholar who endeavors to experience accuracy. Because Jesus promised. “You shall KNOW the TRUTH”, we can trust Him to always reveal the truth. None of His Word is intended to be confusing, much less contradictory.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally & without reproach, & it will be given to him” – Jas. 1:5.
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LOL! I am laughing here, both you and Slim seem concerned about this idea of stealing. Nah, He did not “borrow the burro” either. 🙂
The thing is, stealing is our own perception, our own interpretation. That’s a very human boundary to have. We’re all about property rights. But if you delve a bit deeper, what exactly would the Creator of the universe actually “steal?” Didn’t He create everything? Isn’t it ALL His in the first place? You can’t steal your own stuff.
So from Job, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Often one of the keys to remaining grateful, to appreciating all the things we’ve been given, is recognizing that they are all gifts from the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord for what He has loaned to us.
“Therefore, those who cling to THOSE rules for dear life, demonstrate a reliance NOT on their own understanding, but trusting in the Lord’s leadership THROUGH His Word.”
I’m with you there. He never contradicts His word. The problem being, there are a whole lot of us who don’t let the Author and Finisher of our faith actually read it to us, and so we wind up with some really bad interpretations and some really lost people.
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I think the key is, the Lord has need of it. Once a sister in church borrowed my tambourine. The child in me wanted to cry “Mine”. But the point is not whether I play it or she plays it. My beloved sister was glorifying God. I knew it would be returned anyway, but sometimes we can get territorial. There have been times where I’ve purchased things, like Bibles or CDs or other things, and they would sit. I would not use them and then I realized, they’re not meant for me. Later, the Lord would lay it on my heart to give it to the right person. This has happened to me repeatedly through life. Nothing, not even people, belong to us in the real sense. Everything is lent to us of God.
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Amen, Pam! That’s it exactly.
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I never doubted that the sum of everything rightly BELONGS to the Lord. It is the misconception that He would ever lead us to steal that I attempted to remedy. I probably should not have employed sarcasm in my alluding to systematic theology.
On the other hand, stealing and every vice are so foreign to God’s character that He emphasized the real sin is not the action itself as much as the motivation behind it. Thou shall not steal is eclipsed by thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s goods. Likewise, whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Mt.5:28).
To hunger is a natural thing, but to crave what is not ours without respect for the grace by which God has provided our needs is the beginning of violation. Money is NOT the root of all evil; it is the LOVE of money. While God allows many perversions of desire, He condones NONE.
So, we agree – “one of the keys to remaining grateful, to appreciating all the things we’ve been given, is recognizing that they are all gifts from the Lord.” May His blessings continue to be multiplied to you (and through you)!
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I think we are in total agreement, MJ. 🙂
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Uh.. donkeys=democrats?
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What’s that old joke? Democrats say what is mine is mine, and what is yours is mine, but all Republicans ever say is “mine.”
Nope, no hidden political meanings in this post. If I had wanted to do that, I probably would have written about baboons. 🙂
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LOL… (I actually did laugh out loud). Funny retort, IB.
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HA HA
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Love the title. But why the donkey and its mother?
Because ‘a righteous man regards the life of a beast,’ and of course He whose understanding is infinite would have known the kicking and screaming. 😉
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I love your humor and sense of TRUTH. Thanks so much.
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While I do respect others stuff, in truth, if someone needed to steal “my” donkey to serve their need, so be it.
Does it really belong to me anyhow? I have a feeling the person God directed him to felt the same way 🤔🤙
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Amen, Crafty. That’s the spirit! 🙂
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You are so witty! By the way, Proverbs 3:5,6… my life verses. ☺️ I love that theyare your faves! 💜 and hugs!!
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