
An angel of God, a mighty warrior with a huge sword, is blocking their path, keeping him from taking Balaam to do evil.

He says, “Why do you beat me? Have I acted this way before? Have I been unfaithful to you in the past?” Then he shares what he sees that Balaam cannot see. God gives the donkey the ability to speak like a human. Then he says that if he had a sword he’d kill him. He grows so frustrated that he beats his donkey with a stick.

Suddenly his donkey stops dead in its tracks. In the Balaam story, Balaam is charging ahead to do his evil, for profit, business. I believe this story shows three great principals about how to be a servant of Christ this Christmas and always:ġ. The intriguing thing about this story is that Balaam’s donkey is a much more spiritual being than his master, and the miracle is the donkey talks like a human in this story. Balak wants Balaam to curse his enemies Israel, the people of God. It is about a sorcerer named Balaam, who is hired by an evil guy named Balak, to do some evil work. There is a great donkey story in the Old Testament Book of Numbers (beginning in chapter 22). How do we do it? How do we become servants? But all can do small things with great love.’ That’s the attitude, that’s the action. Mother Theresa said, ‘We all can’t do great things. People saw Mother Theresa serve the lepers of Calcutta, India and they called her a servant. Servant-hood is an attitude and an action. We do something that serves others, then we are called a servant. We don’t become a servant and then do something.

What does the donkey in our Nativity call us to become? Servant.īeing a servant is what we become because of what we do.

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).Īs His followers, what are we to become? Servants. What did Jesus become, what was His role on earth? Jesus became a servant. A donkey was a beast of burden carrying huge loads. It wasn’t a horse, because a horse was an instrument of war. So, if we become what we drive, what does Jesus become? Jesus rode a donkey, so he became what a donkey was.Ī donkey was a very valuable animal in His time. What mode of transportation brought Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, that led to His crucifixion? Most of us know Jesus rode a donkey. We always see a donkey at the manger, it’s not complete without it. The Bible doesn’t specifically say Mary rode a donkey to Bethlehem, but somewhere a long-lasting tradition developed. What mode of transportation brought Mary into Bethlehem to give birth to Jesus? Most of us would say a donkey.
