Matthew 21:2

The Donkey That Could Not Be Spared

Go into the village that is over against you, and straightway ye shall find an donkey tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. Matthew 21:2.

This is a verse which has given a great deal of trouble to wise men who study the Bible. And why do you think it has worried them? Because two animals are mentioned in it instead of one! Mark, Luke, and John all tell the same story, but they mention only one beast the donkey's colt. Matthew speaks of two the donkey and the donkey's colt.

Now these wise men have brought forward learned reasons why Matthew should differ from the others. But one man had an idea of his own. (The idea for this sermon was derived from an article by the Rev. Rayner Winterbotham in The Expository Times for May 1917.) He went to an old farmer who had a wide knowledge of the ways of animals, and he asked him if there was any reason why the donkey should accompany the colt. And the wise old man replied, “Certainly, an unbroken colt simply would not go at all could not be made to go unless its mother went along with it. It would be totally unmanageable and useless away from her.”

Christ rode only on the colt, so perhaps the other evangelists did not think it worth while mentioning the mother-donkey, but Matthew did not forget her.

You can picture the donkey and the colt that day when the disciples went to find them. They lived in Bethany and they belonged to a man who was a friend of Jesus. (Perhaps that friend was Lazarus whom Christ raised from the dead.) Sometimes Jesus came to visit their master and He never went away without giving a kindly clap to the donkey and picking a bunch of nice juicy grass for the colt. And the master used to say, “If you ever want the use of my donkey or her foal be sure to send for them. I'll be delighted to lend them.”

So the day came when Jesus did have need of the colt. It was the day on which He was to ride into Jerusalem as the King of Peace. And He sent two of His disciples to find the beasts with directions where they were to find them and what they were to say to the owner.

When the disciples reached the spot where the animals were tied, they unfastened the donkey, and, putting a halter round her neck, led her away. The colt they did not attempt to lead. It went with its mother, trotting and cantering by her side.

But when they reached the highroad where Jesus was waiting a change took place. The halter was taken off the donkey, and, insult of insults, was put upon the colt! He who had always run free had a halter placed round his neck! He who had never had a saddle or carried a person had garments laid upon him and carried a human being! Trembling with fear the colt refused to move, but just then he heard a soft little bray at his ear. It was his mother telling him that it was all right and to go on, for she would be beside him. Then the Man on his back gave him a kindly clap and an encouraging word, and he recognized the kind voice of that Friend of his master who used to feed him with bunches of grass. He began to walk slowly down the road, and, as he went, his mother ran beside him encouraging him by her presence. Later, as he gained confidence she stopped now and again to snatch a bite of grass by the roadside, but always she kept near him.

When the crowds gathered to hail Jesus as the Messiah and to lay branches in His path they pushed and jostled the donkey. They thought she was only in the way. But the little trembling colt knew better, and the Lord of life Himself knew better. He could see into the heart of the creature and He knew that it needed its mother's presence.

Now, boys and girls, this story of the donkey and the donkey's colt teaches us a very beautiful lesson the lesson that the things which seem unimportant cannot be done without. Christ rode upon the colt, but He needed the donkey too. He could not have ridden to Jerusalem at all that day had the donkey not come also.

Sometimes we want to do the big, grand things, the things that everybody will talk about, the things that will make a stir in the world. And we forget that if there were nobody to do the little things, the big ones would never be done. It was like that during the World War I, was it not? Our gallant soldiers and sailors and airmen faced the enemy for us; they went through terrible privations and dangers. They did the big, grand things. But they could not have done them had it not been for the people at home doing the little things. They could not have done them had it not been for the men and women who worked in ammunition and airplane factories and in shipbuilding yards, had it not been for the mothers and wives and sisters and children who stayed at home to roll bandages and knit socks and pray.

I want to tell you of one boy who did his bit just by making coffee. His name was Dan Taylor, but they called him “little Dan.” He was cabin-boy on board the trawler Providence of Brixham in Devon, and there was one thing he excelled in nobody could make quite such good coffee as he. You shall hear how his gift was put to use.

On New Year's Day, 1915, the Providence was out in the English Channel and making for home. A fierce storm was raging and the waves were running twenty feet high. About half-past eleven in the forenoon the third hand sighted a boat in the distance.

It was a naval cutter packed with bluejackets and it seemed to be in distress. He reported the matter to the skipper, and the latter, with great difficulty and danger to himself, turned his vessel and went to the rescue of the cutter. The boat proved to contain sixty- eight survivors of H. M. S. Formidable, which had been torpedoed by the Germans very early that morning.

At great risk to themselves the skipper, the mate, and the third hand managed to rescue the shivering men. Some of them were only half-clad, many were in a state of collapse, all of them were soaked to the skin, and none had had anything to eat or drink since seven o'clock the previous evening.

At first “little Dan” helped to hold the end of a rope, but soon an idea struck him. He saw how cold and hungry and wet the men looked, and he thought that the very thing they needed was a cup of hot coffee. So he hustled down to the cabin, and before a bluejacket was got on board he had the water boiling and a big jug of steaming coffee ready!

And how these men enjoyed it! It seemed to put new life into them, and they declared it was the best coffee they had ever tasted. And the more they drank, the more they wanted. So “little Dan” was kept busy brewing coffee until the Providence reached Brixham at eight o'clock in the evening.

You will be glad to hear that none of the bluejackets died, and that the doctors declared that “little Dan had helped to save many a life.

“Little Dan” was too small to rescue drowning men but he was not too small to make coffee. He was too small to do the big thing, but he was not too small to do the little thing, and he did what he could do.

And, boys and girls, isn't “little Dan's” position very much like yours? You can't go out to business yet and do the difficult work father does; you can't earn money to keep the family, but you can make his work lighter for him by being cheerful and obliging. You can't look after the household as mother does, but you can help her by running errands and being obedient and loving. And remember that these seemingly unimportant things count tremendously. They can't be done without.