Who is your favourite shrek character Shrek, Princess Fiona, Donkey, Lord Farquahar
What is it we like about Donkey? He doesn’t even have a name. Funny, ordinary, he’s not very good socially, he says and does inappropriate things, he’s naive. In fact he’s the opposite of what a hero of a story should be.
In a way he’s the opposite of lord Farquar who is a controlling perfectionist wanting to remove everyone and everything from the kingdom that is not perfect. Lord Farquar is the opposite of Jesus. Jesus welcomes the imperfect, the disadvantaged, the broken, the lowly and despised. He welcomes the poor in spirit, those who mourn. The church must not be like Lord Farquar’s kingdom! The church must embrace the broken, the hurting and the imperfect.
Why did they choose a donkey?
Donkeys are not the most graceful, attractive animals. No one uses a picture of a donkey in their marketing. No football teams are nicknamed “the donkeys”. When a car production company called SS Cars decided to change their name they chose the name Jaguar not Donkey. No one would want to buy a car called an e-type donkey.
Donkey = ordinary
A donkey must be about the most ordinary animal there is – if I went to a zoo I wouldn’t go out of my way to find the donkey cage.
Jesus chose a donkey to ride into Jerusalem – it fulfilled a prophecy in Zech 9:9
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey,
Despite this verse, many of the jews expected a warrior conquering messiah who would come into Jerusalem on a mighty stallion, or maybe pulled in an amazing, glorious chariot. But no Jesus comes on a donkey
Jesus uses the ordinary. In fact it’s almost as though he goes out of the way to do it:
Born in an ordinary stable
Rides in on a donkey
Takes an ordinary boy’s lunch and feeds thousands
He uses ordinary stone jars and turns the contents into wine
Chooses ordinary unlearned people to be his disciples
Eats with social outcasts
He highlights the deeds of poor widows not rich philanthropists
This is so at odds with our celebrity culture. As a society we are transfixed by celebrity because we cannot cope with our ordinariness. But at the same time people delight in the fall of celebrities – why? Their marriage fails, they put on a bit of weight. Because even celebrities are ordinary after all.
In the old testament God uses a ordinary shepherd boy and an ordinary stone from a river to kill a giant,
He uses Moses a man who is full of inadequacy and his ordinary stick to bring forth water from a rock and give drink to a nation. He uses a man hiding from his enemies (Gideon) to deliver a nation
He uses ordinary things and ordinary people.
In Philippians the apostle Paul says he counts all his learning and all his religious pedigree as nothing. In 1 Corinthians 1:27 he says But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
Good news – We don’t have to be as clever or sophisticated or persuasive or glamorous as the world. Paul’s enemies mocked him because he wasn’t very impressive. Not in the power of clever words but in the power of the holy spirit.
God uses ordinary people to carry his glory. Ordinary people like you and me.
Just like he used an ordinary donkey to carry the very being of God in the form of Jesus into the city so too he uses ordinary people like us to carry his presence into our community.
He says we have this treasure in earthen vessels. No great display on the outside but real treasure within. Clay pots are usually pretty ordinary – but oh the treasure.
God is not into celebrity that’s why he chose a humble donkey – to carry Jesus
He chooses people who are ordinary in the worlds eyes like you and me to carry his glory. Don’t let our ordinariness disqualify ourselves.
We can feel unimportant and ordinary but God loves ordinary. Workington is a pretty ordinary town. No great centre of industry, no celebrities live here, no tourists visit – it’s an ideal candidate to be visited by God’s extraordinary
This is what Dave Gilpin calls might call donkey theology. God uses the ordinary.
Contrast worm theology- I’m no one, I’m useless, I’m rubbish, there’s nothing good about me. Worm theology says God is unlikely to use me
Donkey theology says god can use me in my ordinary life
He wants to use the ordinary to achieve the extraordinary.