Origen · a new plain-English translation from the Greek and Latin
It is read in the Gospel according to Luke how, when the Savior had come to Bethphage and Bethany near the mountain, he sent two of his disciples to untie the colt of a donkey, on which no man had ever sat. This indeed seems to me to belong more to a deeper understanding than to the simple history. The donkey was tied. Where? "Opposite Bethphage and..."
in which Bethany is interpreted as "house of obedience," but Bethphage as "house of jaws," a certain place; for the jaws were given to the priests, as is prescribed in the law. There then, where, having been made subject to "obedience," he sends his disciples to untie the colt of a donkey, on which no man had ever sat. Now what else can sit upon a donkey, apart from a man? I want to take an example for a moment, so that what I am about to say
may be understood. It is written in Isaiah: "The vision of the four-footed beasts in ... and distress," and the rest, down to the place where it says, "the riches of the asps will not profit them." How great were the riches of the asps that each had carried before, how great the wealth of the beasts, and how a rational man never sat upon our donkey — this is not the word of Moses, not of Isaiah, not of Jeremiah, nor of all the rest of the prophets,
and then he will see that the word and reason of God sat upon us, when the Lord Jesus came and instructed his disciples that, going, they should untie the colt that had before been tied, so that it might go forth free. And so the colt of the donkey, once untied, is led to him, for whose untying, sending his disciples, he had said: "If anyone asks you why you untie the colt, say to him: because the Lord has need of him."
There were many masters of this colt before the Savior had need of him; but after he began to be its "master," the many ceased to be so; for "no one can serve God and mammon." As long as we served wickedness, we were subject to many passions and vices. The colt, then, is untied, "because the Lord has need of him." And now the Lord "has need" of him. You are the donkey. What is it of yours
that the Son of God "has need of"? What does he seek from you? He "has need" of your salvation; he desires you to be loosed from your sins. Then the disciples put "their garments upon" him and make the Savior sit. They take up the Word of God and place him upon the souls of those who hear. They strip off their garments; they "spread" them "in the way." Upon us are the garments of the apostles; their good works are our adornments
— the apostles want their garments to be trodden by us. And in truth the donkey, untied by the disciples and carrying Jesus, walks upon the garments of the apostles, when it imitates their teaching and their life. Who of us is so blessed that Jesus should sit upon him — he who, as long as he was on the mountain, stayed with the apostles alone, but when he began to draw near the descent, then there met
him a crowd of people? If he had not come to the descent, the multitude could not have met him. He descended and sat upon the colt of the donkey, and all the people with one voice praised God. Seeing this, the Pharisees said to the Lord, "Rebuke them"; to whom he replied, "If these are silent, the stones will cry out." When we speak, the stones are silent; when we are silent, the stones cry out;
"for the Lord is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones." At what time shall we be silent? When "the love of many" grows cold, when that which was foretold by the Savior is fulfilled: "do you suppose the Son of man, when he comes, will find faith on earth?" Therefore let us beg for mercy, lest, while we are silent, the stones cry out, but let us speak and praise God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together,
to whom is glory and dominion for ages of ages. Amen.