The Donkey
Animals of Christmas #2
December 7, 2003
Exodus 13:11-16
Second Sunday of Advent
Galena-Warwick United Methodist Charge
Warwick & Galena, Maryland
Rev. Dr. Lawrence D. Jameson
larry@larryjameson.com
back to our church home page
Exodus 13:11-16
11 "After the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to
you, as he promised on oath to you and your forefathers, 12 you are to give over
to the LORD the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your
livestock belong to the LORD . 13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but
if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.
14 "In days to come, when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' say to him,
'With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of
slavery. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every
firstborn in Egypt, both man and animal. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the
first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.' 16 And
it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the LORD
brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand."
Back in 1223 A.D.
St. Francis of Assisi included a real live donkey
in his first nativity scene.
I’m glad he did!
The humble donkey
reminds us of two things:
FIRST God redeemed Israel
SECOND God redeemed you and me.
How can a donkey
remind us that God redeemed Israel?
Good question.
The answer is found in Exodus 13.11-16.
Exo 13:11 "After the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives
it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your forefathers,
Exo 13:12 you are to give over to the LORD the first offspring of every womb.
All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the LORD.
Exo 13:13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem
it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.
Exo 13:14 "In days to come, when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' say
to him, 'With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of
slavery.
Exo 13:15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every
firstborn in Egypt, both man and animal. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the
first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.'
Exo 13:16 And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead
that the LORD brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand."
In Exodus 13 the Lord gave the people of Israel
a very expensive reminder.
Every time one of their livestock (cow, sheep, donkey, goat)
got pregnant for the first time
and had a male baby,
that baby animal did not belong to the farmer.
The Bible said: “All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the LORD.”
It was to be sacrificed.
This was an expensive law!
The people of Israel made their living by raising livestock.
This law cost them a lot!
Q: Why did God ask for so much?
A: He is worth it!
God always demands our first, and our best.
He is the source of our life. Nothing but our best is appropriate.
So when a ritually clean animal,
such as a cow, or a sheep, or a goat
had it’s first male offspring,
that baby animal was given back to God.
Now donkeys were not ritually clean.
They don’t have a split hoof and chew the cud.
So the Jews never sacrificed donkeys.
But donkeys were very valuable.
So God insisted that the firstborn male donkey
be given to Him in one of two ways:
1) Firstborn male donkeys could be redeemed
with the sacrifice of another farm animal, a sheep.
or
2) the donkey could be put to death
by simply breaking its neck
(the fastest and most humane method possible).
If this all sounds crazy to you,
then you probably didn’t grow up on a farm,
and my guess is
that very few people here grew up in ancient times.
Put yourself in God’s place.
If you were God,
and you wanted to communicate with
an large population of farmers,
what would you do?
You would talk to them in terms they could understand.
And everybody, everybody, in the ancient world
knew how valuable donkeys were.
Do you remember your first car?
Well, maybe your parents gave you your first car.
Do you remember the first car
you ever bought with your own money?
How much did that car mean to you?
Ahhhhhh! Now you know what I mean!
Your first car took a lot of work to buy didn’t it?
What it would be like if God said,
“Go ahead and make the payments,
but you can’t drive it,
because the first car you ever buy
belongs to me,
so keep it in the garage until the last payment
then take it to the scrap yard
and get it crushed.”
God deserves our first, and our best.
Q: Why?
A: Because he redeemed Israel
and he redeemed you and me.
How can a donkey
remind Christians that God redeemed us?
Good question.
The answer is found in Matthew 21.
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday,
he rode on a brand new donkey
that had never been ridden on before.
This was a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy
found in Zechariah 9.9:
“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
It’s all about redemption.
Redemption means,
you buy back something that is very expensive.
God redeemed the people of Israel
and set them free from slavery in Egypt.
To remember that event,
the people of Israel
had to redeem the firstborn male animal,
even their donkeys.
On the cross
Jesus paid for every sin
you and I, and every person in the world
will ever commit.
He paid the price.
How fitting that the humble donkey
should remind us of this wonderful fact!
There is amazing power to this prophecy!
“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
It’s all about redemption!
You were bought with a price.
Don’t hesitate to respond
by gladly,
eagerly,
joyfully,
giving your first,
and your best
back to God.
He is worth it! Amen.
* Call to Worship
We owe God everything. It’s impossible for us to pay him back.
We were slaves to sin. We were headed for hell.
Then Jesus took our place. He paid the price we could not pay.
That’s redemption.
The humble donkey reminds us that we serve a God who redeems.
Special Thanks to the Warington family for bringing a
donkey to visit!
Special Thanks to Dick Cook
for coordinating the visits of “the Animals of Christmas”.