By Professor Morwenna Ludlow
One of my favourite pictures is Giotto’s image of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, his hand raised in blessing. His disciples are gathered behind him, one with a hand gently on the donkey’s back as if to guide her. Ahead of Jesus, a group stand to greet him in front of a gate in Jerusalem’s city wall. One young boy is enthusiastically waving a palm frond, while two others climb trees to pick the branches, their bodies silhouetted against a startlingly blue sky. They look a bit precarious! One person in the crowd is laying his cloak on the ground, just under the donkey’s delicately outstretched foot; another is depicted humorously, completely tangled up in the garment he’s trying to take off to lay it on the ground. We can’t see his head and he certainly can’t see Jesus. The rest of the crowd have their eyes fixed on Jesus with a profound and slightly solemn gaze of concentration. Their eyes are locked with those of Jesus as he blesses them.
I think that the star of the show is the donkey. Her head is right in the centre of the picture and what really draws my gaze is the half smile on her face. In amongst all the commotion and waving of palms and throwing down of tunics and shouting of hosannas it’s as if she is the only one who really understands who she has on her back.
My mind turned again to this picture, because the story of Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem is the gospel set for Advent Sunday in the Book of Common prayer (Matthew 21.1-13). It might seem odd to have a passage often associated with Holy Week, but it makes sense if we think of Advent as a time of expectation – a time of preparing ourselves to meet Jesus.
Of course, I don’t know what Giotto was intending when he painted that beautiful picture. But what sticks in my mind is the donkey with her knowing smile and the crowd who notice Jesus and welcome him, but who still don’t fully understand.
Wonderfully, Jesus continues to teach and bless and heal those who do not understand. He continues to teach his disciples, when even they do not get what is going on. The people he condemns are those who fail to love, rather than those who fail to understand. He sometimes chides those who have failed to listen to him. But he’s not condemning them failing to understand exactly how it is possible for him to be God sitting on a donkey. As in Giotto’s picture, he gazes back in love at those who simply turn their attention to him.
As we journey through this Advent Season, I invite us to reflect that we can approach Jesus in the sure knowledge that he is approaching us with his hand raised in blessing.
Image source: Wikimedia/Web Gallery of Art