"Only a Man Can Sit on an Ass"

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Holy Week begins today with Palm Sunday. Don’t forget we will be convening Holy Week conversations at noon eastern on Substack Live. If you’re a subscriber, it will kick you a link by email.

I’m under the weather and not preaching today so instead of posting my own sermon, I thought I would offer you this wonderful homily from the third century. Leave it to Origen to spin an entire proclamation on the act of untying a donkey.

This is Homily 37 on Luke 19.29-40:

When the Savior had come to Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olivet, he sent two of his disciples to until the foal of an ass that had been tied, “on which no man had ever sat.”

This seems to pertain more to the deeper sense than to the simple narrative.

The ass had been bound.

Where?

“Across from Bethphage and Bethany.”

Bethany means “house of obedience,” and Bethphage means “house of jaws,” that is, a priestly place. For jaw bones were given to priests, as the Law commands. So, the Savior sends the disciples to the place where obedience is, where the place given over to priests lies, to unbind the foal of an ass, on which no man had ever sat.

But, who else besides a man can sit on an ass?

I wish for a moment to give an example, so that what I am going to say can be understood. It is written in Isaiah, “A vision of four-footed beasts in tribulation and straits,” and the rest, up to the point where it says, “The wealth of asps will not profit them.” Each one of us should consider what a great wealth of asps he has previously carried, what great riches of beasts, and how a rational man has never sat on our ass— not the word of Moses, nor of Isaiah, nor of Jeremiah, nor of all the rest of the prophets. Then he will see that the Word of God, and Reason, have sat upon us, when the LORD Jesus came and commanded his disciples to go and untie the “colt of an ass,” which had previously been bound, so that it could walk free. Thus, “the colt of an ass” is untied and led to Jesus. When he sent his disciples to untie it he said, “If anyone asks you why you are untying the foal, say to him, “Because the LORD has need of it.”

Many people were lords of this colt before the Savior needed it. But, after he began to be its LORD, the many ceased to be its lords, for “no one can serve God and Mammon.” When we serve wickedness, we are subjected to many passions and vices. Hence, the colt is untied, “because the LORD has need of it.” Even now, the LORD “has need” of the colt.

You are the ass. Why does the Son of God “have need” of you?What does he seek from you?He needs your salvation. He wants you to be untied from the bonds of sin.

Then the disciples lay “their garments upon the ass” and have the Savior sit down. They take the Word of God and put it on the souls of their hearers. They take off their garments and “spread them out on the road.” The garments of the apostles are upon us; their good works are our adornment. The apostles want us to tread upon their garments. And, indeed, when the ass imitates the disciples’ teaching and their life, it is untied by the disciples, bears Jesus, and treads upon the apostles’ garments.

Who of us is so blessed that Jesus sits on him or her?

As long as he was on the mountain, he dwelt only with the apostles. But, when he begins to descend, a crowd could not have run to meet him. He descended, and sat upon the colt of an ass, and the whole people praised God in a harmonious voice.

The Pharisees saw this and said to the LORD, “Reprove them.” He said to them, “If they are silent, the stones will cry out.” When we speak, the stones are silent. When we are silent, the stones cry out. “For the LORD can raise up from these stones sons of Abraham.”

When shall we be silent?

When “the charity of many grows cold,” and when the prophecy that the Savior uttered is fulfilled, “Do you think that, when the Son of Man comes, he will find faith upon the earth?” We invoke the LORD’s mercy, lest we should be silent and the stones cry out. We should speak out and praise God, in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to whom is glory and power for ages of ages.

Amen.”

Amen indeed.

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