Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it. — John 12:14.
I learned something new today. I learned that donkeys have a cross on their back. The cross is composed of dark hair that runs down the donkey’s back and across it’s shoulders. Who knew?
Is this just a coincidence or an intentional use of symbolism?
What this short verse teaches us is that we shouldn’t ignore what appears to be meaningless sentences and verses in scripture. Perhaps hidden in every word is a story into itself. Why didn’t Jesus choose a horse or camel instead when he entered Jerusalem for the last time? Maybe it was because of the donkey’s cross or maybe that is the only ride he had. I don’t know, but I have an idea, Jesus knew exactly what he was doing and was trying to tell his followers something.
What do you think?
Interestingly enough, Mary rode on a donkey on her way into Jerusalem in order to give birth to Jesus – there may be some parallel there.
I wasn’t totally clear about the donkey…… Do all donkeys have this cross on their back? It sounded like that they do. If this symbolic pattern occurs on a donkey it seems as though someone would have made it general information by now. After all the blossom of the dogwood is to represent the stigmata on Christ’s hands. Not sure how this got by Christian general information.. I haven’t answered your question though!
I believe it is all donkeys. I want to make a point to check. W.