Jesus rode into town on a borrowed donkey. He used the cloaks of his followers for a borrowed saddle. Had one last meal with His dearest and closest friends, upstairs, in a borrowed room. He owned neither the cross, the nails, nor the sin that held Him to it, but embraced all three as if life itself depended on it—for surely, ours did. Violence took His body. Soldiers took His dignity, along with His clothes, and as Providence would have it, He even gave his last mortal breath away. The Lord of Life was buried, penniless, in a borrowed tomb.
It’s strange when you picture the celebration of Palm Sunday in the frame of Jesus’ poverty. But when I read through the accounts—Zechariah 9:9, Matthew 21:4-9, Luke 19:30-43, and even Revelation 7:9-12, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The God Man, the King of all kings owned (while on earth) virtually nothing. Why? It begs an important question: what did Jesus value? His entire life tells a story almost as remarkable as His venerated death. He spent thirty-three years owning nothing, but spent a lifetime purchasing one treasure…us! The only treasures Jesus would not let go of, the only things not borrowed—that hell could not pry from his fingers—were His love, His identity, and us!
As I said, it’s Palm Sunday, and I’ve found myself pondering the pauper King and His priceless treasure….me. But a question comes bubbling up I didn’t expect—the same exact question I posed to Jesus, but this time is directed at me: What do I value? What do I really treasure? Am I treasuring what Jesus merely borrowed? Or have I made this temporal world my borrowed kingdom?
So how about it? What have you mistaken for borrowed treasures lately? If you want to play along on the Forge today, I’ll give you a hint. If this world can steal it: it’s borrowed. It was never yours in the first place. Jesus knew the difference and so should we. Maybe it’s time we take another look at Palm Sunday and let Jesus’ poverty give us pause. Maybe, if we look really closely, we’ll even catch a glimpse of what would cause a Savior to live His life borrowing everything, only to give everything He had for the treasures that cannot be borrowed.
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,
Blessed be His borrowed things.
Blessed be the penniless Pauper King
who lived a borrowed life,
but died a priceless death,
because He treasures…me.
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