Someone had a great idea. Why do rental cars need to be the newest cars out there? New cars are expensive. What if we used used cars instead? Cheaper, less concern for getting dings and dents. Thus RentAWreck was born. Today’s innovations on this concept are the ride sharing companies. Cars and bikes are both being tried in an effort to create a business model that will work.
But so far, a successful business model has not been worked out, at least for the bikes. All too often the bikes get stolen, or just never returned. And the cars are still too small a market to be successful on a large scale. So people keep trying new things.
The thing that is lacking is not so much with the concept of sharing, but with the lack of integrity of the human heart. A system of sharing will only work with honest, non-self-centered people. And our world is in a short supply of these. These are not values that have been taught and caught well by younger generations from the older. We have values curriculum in schools, but the students don’t necessarily see living examples around them.
Jesus arrives in the area of Jerusalem for the Passover feast. Places to stay would be scarce with tens of thousands of visitors stretching the housing resources. All the nearby towns and villages would have been brimming with extra people. Everyone made room for visitors in their homes. Any place someone could bunk was open.
Bethany was about two miles from Jerusalem, less than an hour walk. Jesus knows about a rideshare kiosk in the area. The tells two of His disciples to go and swipe His member card and pick up a set of wheels for His journey into Jerusalem.
Jesus’ choice of a colt is highly symbolic. It ties right into the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Himself. The Messiah is predicted to ride on a donkey into Jerusalem. So Jesus sends His disciples to the colt kiosk.
What Jesus asks His disciples to do took faith on their part to carry out. They could go there and not find a donkey. Then they would return as failures. They could be accused of attempting to steal the colt and end up in jail, or with a hand cut off. They could go, find the donkey, speak to the people, but the people might want them to put up a security deposit on the rental. They would return humiliated and empty handed. They didn’t have a credit card to use for the security deposit.
We don’t know if Jesus had made these arrangements with the owner on a previous visit to Jerusalem. Perhaps the owner had responded to the invitation to become a follower. Maybe it was someone who had been healed by Jesus, and so would have been counted on to joyfully provide for their new Master. Or perhaps it was an insight Jesus had, an ability to see the donkey tied there without having to be there.
The Arnold Journey 