Missions

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WANTED: COLTS!


“And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples, And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him. And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.” (Mark 11: 1-3, KJV).

Let us see what the Spirit of the Lord can teach us from this short extract. First of all, we shall situate this extract in its proper context.

Jesus is here about to enter the City of Jerusalem where He is going to betrayed, arrested, accused, tried and eventually put to death. He chooses two of His disciples and sends them into the village of Bethphage with a very strange commission. They are to enter the village. There, they will see a colt — the young of an ass — which is tied to a tree. They are to loose the animal and bring it back to Jesus. Should their master ask them what they are doing with the animal, they are simply to reply that the Lord (Jesus, Himself) needs it! And straightaway, the master will release the colt without any argument!

Now let us draw a few lessons from this extract. First of all, it must be said that ever since He started His earthly mission, Jesus had ONE well determined aim and destination: Calvary Hill in Jerusalem where His Cross, raised there in the invisible world ever since the foundation of the world, was waiting for the time of its materialization! There it stood, waiting to receive Jesus in its rough and “naily” embrace! And all the while Jesus had been walking resolutely towards Calvary in His determination to die a violent and undeserved death that alone could break the fetters of death off His Father’s beloved children’s hands and feet and set them free for good!

And here now He is standing, as it were, on the threshold of His final and decisive ordeal! We all have seen, in movies, kings and emperors triumphantly entering their capital cities after a great victory over the enemy. What a pomp and pageantry accompany the victor’s return after a successful campaign in foreign territory! They choose for that occasion the most majestic horse possible with its mane flowing in the wind!

Not so, however, with our Lord, Jesus Christ! Yet, He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords! To enter Jerusalem, He surprises everybody by choosing the least likely animal — a mere colt! In coming into the world to save us, Jesus gave the world the greatest lesson in humility and humiliation. His very incarnation was an unusual example of humility (see Philippians 2: 5-8). From God, He humbled Himself into the form of a man with all the limitations inherent to humanity. He went through temptation (see Luke 4: 1-13) — though He never succumbed! — knew sadness (see John 11: 35), was prone to fatigue (see Matthew 8:23-24, Mark 4: 37-38 and John 4:6) and experienced the pangs of thirst (see John 4: 7 and John 19:28) and of hunger (see John 21: 4-12).

His birth itself eventuated in the most deprived circumstances possible. He was born in a mere manger in a stable amidst animals and filth! The circumstances of His birth were so unexpected they even took the “wise” men from the East unawares: they came looking for Him in Herod’s palace (see Matthew 2: 1-2) for that’s where kings are usually born—in palaces!

Throughout His earthly life, Jesus seems to have purposely had a marked preference for little things — things of no value for the average man. That preference is once again manifested here in His choice of a colt to enter the City of Jerusalem! There were so many other nobler and more majestic animals He could have chosen! But He purposely chose a colt. He could, for example, have chosen a horse or a camel or some other animal more apt for such a noble mission! His aim was to really touch the bottom so He could thereafter lift us to the zenith of glory!

However, it must also be noted that the colt was not just any colt — it was one on which no-one had ever mounted! It was, as it were, a “virgin” colt, especially reserved for our Lord.

Another point that is worth mentioning is the very original way He picks the animal to carry Him into Jerusalem. Here Jesus was manifesting spiritual gifts such as the word of knowledge, prophecy and miracles. In spite of the physical distance that separated Him from the colt, He knew exactly what lay beyond! And mark also His words of authority: “The Lord hath need of them”! His authority resembles very much what we would term guts! Indeed, how can one send people into foreign country, have them untie people’s animals and just walk away with them without the master’s authorization? A cheeky attitude, indeed! But here we must remember it’s no ordinary demand: it’s an urgent and authoritative request by no less a Person than the Lord! Was not He Who created the colt and every other animal and every other thing that ever was created (see Colossians 1: 16)? His authority and sovereignty extend, consequently, over the whole universe. No wonder, the colt’s master has no alternative but to release the colt, as Jesus foresaw and foretold!

I have often tried to place myself in the colt’s position and view the events from its vantage point. Here is an animal — immature because of its young age and undignified because of its species. Nobody has even deigned ride it to give it a minimum of importance — let alone of honor! How unimportant and useless it must be feeling! And, to make matters worse, it is also tied to a tree stump so that its movements are restrained by its rope. How lonely and forlorn it must feel! A prisoner confined to turn around in circles in its enclosure! How many months or years has it gone on like that? And how many more years will its dull and monotonous existence last before it is taken to the butcher’s to be bartered and butchered ?

On seeing the two disciples coming towards it, what must be going on in its mind? Surely it must be thinking that its time has come to adorn the butcher’s stalls… When the two disciples loose it, it is comforted in its presupposition. But, it is in for a big surprise when he hears them say: “The Lord hath need of you”! It can hardly believe its ears — although these organs are exceptionally developed in its species! Little does it think that its destiny is going to change. Drastically!

Indeed, it is taken to the Lord. By the way — as Jesus foresaw —its master does ask the disciples what on earth they are doing with the colt. When they answer, as Jesus has commanded them, “the Lord needs it”, the master unceremoniously allows his animal to be taken away! The colt must be pleasantly surprised when the disciples stretch out their clothes over its back and on the road so Jesus can ride it to make His triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem amidst shouts of “Hosanna! Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord!” How proud must the once neglected colt feel! And how jealous must the other nobler animals feel!

Now, aren’t we very much like that colt—neglected by man, useless for this world, wondering what the purpose of our existence on this earth can be? Well, let me tell you something: we have a very noble mission to carry out here — the noblest of missions, in fact! Just like Jesus chose a mere colt to carry Him into the City of Jerusalem, so has He chosen us, mere mortals, to carry Him into the world and into sinners’ hearts. Remember Jesus’ praying of thanksgiving upon the return of His disciples from mission:

“At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure” (Luke 10:21).

Little children! Little colts!



His parting Words just before His ascension to Heaven are to be taken with the most solemn seriousness:

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8).

That’s the reason the Holy Spirit was poured upon the Early Church — to empower the believers for witnessing. And this mandate has been legated to us, modern day believers. However, it would appear that the Great Commission has been turned into the Great Omission! Sadly so. Even the Early Church made that mistake: the disciples tarried in Jerusalem, as Jesus had commanded, but went on tarrying well beyond the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But the Lord’s Work had to go on unhindered! A severe persecution broke out and, in the dispersion that ensued, the Gospel was taken into Samaria and Judaea (Acts 8:1-8)! The Lord went even as far as moving the Church Headquarters from Jerusalem to Antioch, which became the missionary base from which the Gospel was taken to Gentile nations (Acts 13). The Lord has original ways of getting His Work done! He raised Saul of Tarsus — who, in a sense, was once worse than a colt for he kicked against the goad (Acts 9:5) — miraculously converted him and made him become an instrument for His service (Acts 9:15).

However, there is a major problem that hinders our desire and ability to serve the Lord — to take Him into this dying and desperate world. Just like the colt was tied and could not have taken Jesus into the City until it was loosed, so are we tied, too. Yes, there are so many stumps to which we may be tied. We may be tied to our job, to our family, to our business, to our temporal and earthly plans, to our hobbies and to so many other things. If those ties are obvious, there are, however, subtler ties that may be bridling us, preventing us from accomplishing the Master’s Great Commission. We may be tied to our Church or to our denomination! Yes, these can sometimes act as harnesses that prevent us from going into the harvest for the Lord! Listen to this: in Acts 13, Saul (Paul) and Barnabas were exercising a very blessed ministry in the Antioch Church as Prophets and Teachers. Their ministries were very peaceful, quiet, cozy and comfortable until … yes until the Holy Spirit, in His Sovereignty, decided to take them out of their comfort zone to send them into inhospitable mission fields! It is quite worth noting that , no sooner had they set off on their first missionary journey, than they had a head-on collision with the forces of evil in the person of Elymas, the sorcerer, (Acts 13: 6-12).

One thing that gets in the way of the accomplishment of the Great Commission is our unwillingness and reluctance to get out of our comfort zone. It’s far too easy and cozy to serve the Lord within the safe precincts of our local church or of our denomination. Denominational ties can be very strong and very constrictive. I cannot help remember Jesus’ request addressed to Simon Peter: “Step out into the deep!” The deep, that’s where the fishes are! That’s where the miraculous catch awaits us! Yet, we are happy to remain in the little boat of our local church, in the shallow waters of our denomination! We are, as it were, anchored in dry docks! No wonder we don’t bring in considerable catches! In Mauritius, where I live, they organize deep sea fishing competitions and anglers come from Europe, South Africa and other places to participate in those competitions. Well, I can tell you those competitions are not held inside the calm azure lagoon, but out in the open sea beyond the reefs! Sure the seas out there are tumultuous, but the catches often reach world record magnitude!

If Jesus said that His Gospel would be preached to all the world as a witness then the end would come (Matthew 24: 14), I believe He knew it was quite feasible. Jesus would never have given us a task to accomplish that would be beyond our means! If in the days of the Early Church, the disciples, with all the limitations under which they labored, “filled the city of Jerusalem with their doctrine” (Acts 5: 28), how much more should we accomplish with all the modern means of transportation, logistics and communication that we have! Listen to what the Word of God says:

“But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?" Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: "Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." (Romans 10: 16-18).

Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world! Was the Lord not referring to our times with our supersonic air travel, computers, mobile phones, international telephone connections, satellite-relayed television and radio programs, teleconferencing and so on? If the Lord says “their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world”, I believe they have! And if they haven’t yet, they will!

And if we resolutely remain tied to our denominational stump, the Lord will soon send someone to unfasten us, saying: “The Lord hath need of you, colt!”

And we’ll have no alternative but to comply. For the Lord’s Work will suffer no delay and no procrastination. The Bridegroom is eager to be united with His Bride for the oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered and everything is ready for the wedding banquet (Matthew: 22-4).

WANTED: Colts!

PURPOSE: To carry Jesus to the uttermost parts of the world!

SINE QUA NON CONDITION: Be Loosed!



Dr. Jean Norbert Augustin
(BmM, MmM, DmM).

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