“The Scripture for Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:1–11) is filled with symbols—palm branches, cloaks, and shouts of “Hosanna.” Yet at the center of it all is an image that feels almost out of place: a donkey. Not a war horse, not a chariot, not a display of dominance or force, but a donkey. I remember when I was working at Neighborhood Ministries in Phoenix, one of our pastors preached a sermon called Donkey Power, and it stayed with me because it named something I think we struggle to believe in: a kind of power that is humble, that serves, and that accompanies rather than dominates. It raises a question that has lingered with me ever since—why is it so difficult to trust that kind of power?”

Howard Thurman’s encounter with Indian students in 1935 forced him to face a troubling question: What does it mean to represent a faith that has failed to live up to its own ideals? This reflection explores how Thurman’s wrestling with the word missionary reveals the moral weight of language and the responsibility of those who claim to speak for faith.