Don't fire - its a donkey!

Things don't change much in 2000 odd years. There are still lots of soldiers - and lots of donkeys in the middle east.

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We just read as a family how Jesus sent his friends ahead of him to get a donkey for him to ride into the city of Peace. We also read how just a few days after that the brutal soldiers of a pagan occupying imperium brutally beat and humiliated our Lord - something his own countrymen and relgious authorities also took joy in doing.

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As we remember the birth of Jesus - let us not forget his death. For the Christian the festival that many celebrate as Christmas is nice - but it is Easter which is the pivotal point of everything. Christ was not the lamb who was born before the creation of the world - He preexisted all known existence - but he is the lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world. The act of his sacrifice prefigured the very creation of time itself. And his act of physical resurrection is what turns history on its head - and gives hope deep deep down to the very bones. Death - where is your sting?

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In the meantime - and in a time where much is mean - donkeys and soldiers continue to co-exist in the middle east - for some time at least.