In our Gospel reading we find Jesus is
in control (vv1-6).
His entry into Jerusalem is carefully
stage-managed.
He’s in control of the details – he
knows which donkey is tied up where (v2).
He knows the future – he knows what
will happen.
He knows men’s hearts – he knows what
people will say and do.
It seems safe to deduce that Jesus is
in control of everything.
In life we face all sorts of
difficulties and uncertainties.
We don’t know what the future will
hold or how we’ll handle it.
But we can be sure that Jesus is in
control.
He knows what he’s doing.
Jesus chooses, v2, a colt that has
never been ridden.
Jesus, the Master of creation, rides
an unbroken colt.
Jesus is in charge even of beasts.
Way back at creation, Adam had been
put in charge of all the animals.
He’d exercised his authority over them
by naming them.
Mark is showing us Jesus is the new
and better Adam who perfectly rules creation.
He is able to do what no-one else can
do.
Jesus has a plan, a purpose, a
destiny, that he’s deliberately fulfilling.
V1 tells us that Jesus is going up to
Jerusalem.
If we’d been reading through this
gospel, we’d know what that means.
For example, in 10:32-24, just back
over the page, we read:
“They were on their way up to
Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while
those who followed were afraid.
Again he took the Twelve aside
and told them what was going to happen to him.
[Again, notice that Jesus knows
the future]
"We are going up to
Jerusalem," he said, "and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the
chief priests and teachers of the law.
They will condemn him to death
and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog
him and kill him.
Three days later he will
rise."
Jesus knows he’s going to die in
Jerusalem, but he goes there anyway.
I would have headed in the
opposite direction!
Jesus is deliberately going to the
cross.
Jesus intends to give his life as a
ransom for many (10:45).
He will die, that we might live.
He takes the punishment for you and
me.
Although Jesus is completely in
control, he uses his disciples (vv1-2).
He sends them with a significant job
to do.
No doubt Jesus didn’t really need
them.
He could have sent angels.
Or he could have miraculously summoned
the donkey.
But Jesus chooses to use his
disciples.
Might he use even you and me?
Perhaps he would!
Are we ready and willing for Jesus to
use us?
If Jesus is to use them, Jesus’
disciples must do as they’re told.
Are we willing to do what Jesus tells
us?
Are we willing to do what Jesus says,
even if it seems odd and uncomfortable, as perhaps it did to these disciples,
and to those who saw them take the colt away?
Are we willing to risk trouble and
challenge for Jesus?
Would you give Jesus your donkey?
(vv3-6)
Perhaps you can imagine possible objections
and excuses.
“I’m really sorry, but it’s just not
terribly convenient just at the moment.”
“It’s such short notice: I’ve got
other plans for the donkey today.”
“I’d be really stuck without my
donkey. There are other people who could lend you theirs.”
“How do I know I’ll get my donkey
back?”
Can you really trust Jesus with your
stuff?
Is he the Lord, the Master, of
everything you have?
Are your time, and energy, and money,
and home, and possessions, and holidays at his disposal, if “the Lord has need
of them” (v3)?
Jesus is deliberately fulfilling the
Scriptures here.
More or less explicitly, Jesus fulfils
several Old Testament passages:
Jesus sending 2 men to look for a
donkey is probably significant.
In the Old Testament, Saul was
anointed as king, and then he met 2 men who tell him that the donkeys he’s been
looking for have been found.
(1 Sam 10:2)
When Solomon, King David’s son, was
anointed King he had ridden a donkey (1 K 1:33, 38).
The point is that Jesus is God’s
anointed king – the new Saul, the new Solomon.
In Gen 49:8-12, Jacob / Israel says to
his son Judah:
"Judah,
your brothers will praise you;
your hand will
be on the neck of your enemies;
your father's
sons will bow down to you.
You are a
lion's cub, O Judah;
you return from
the prey, my son.
Like a lion he
crouches and lies down, like a lioness-- who dares to rouse him?
The sceptre
will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until
he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.
[And here comes
the donkey bit:]
He will tether
his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch;
he will wash
his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.
His eyes will
be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.”
Jesus belonged to the tribe of Judah.
He is the long-promised one to whom
the sceptre and the ruler’s staff and the obedience of the nations belong.
In Zech 9:9-10, we read:
“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of
Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and
riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from
Jerusalem, and the battle-bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the
earth.”
Jesus is the righteous king who comes
to save, who will rule the world, who will bring peace.
It’s surprising, perhaps, that Jesus rides
into Jerusalem on a colt, a young horse.
The other gospels tell us it was a
donkey.
A war horse might have been better for
the King arriving in his capital.
But Jesus has come to bring peace, not
war.
Jesus is a surprising sort of king –
humble and gentle.
Jesus is re-writing the rules.
He shows us a new way of ruling.
Here are power and authority as they’re
meant to be: at the service of others.
Here’s a revolutionary kind of
leadership.
Again, back in Mark chapter 10 Jesus
has just said:
"You know that those who are
regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials
exercise authority over them.
Not so with you.
Instead, whoever wants to become
great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be
slave of all.
For even the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for
many."
On Palm Sunday Jesus is the king on a
donkey.
On Good Friday he will be the king on
a cross.
He is the humble, servant king.
The king who brings peace.
In v8 the people are spreading their
cloaks before Jesus.
They’re giving Jesus the red-carpet
treatment.
Sir Walter Reighley famously spread
his cloak in front of Queen Elizabeth I when she was about to step in a puddle.
Spreading a cloak in the road is the
kind of thing you do for royalty.
In fact, that’s a Bible idea.
In 2 Kings 9:13, when the people of
Israel want to make Jehu king, they spread their cloaks before him.
Throwing cloaks in front of someone is
treating them as a king.
It’s treating them like your king.
The crowd here are saying they want
Jesus as their king.
They’re committing themselves to him
and pledging their loyalty – throwing their lot in with Jesus’ revolution.
In v8 the people spread branches
before Jesus.
Two hundred years before Jesus, Judas
Maccabaeus defeated the Syrian king, Antiochus Epiphanies, entered Jerusalem
and cleansed and rebuilt the temple.
The people waved ivy and palm branches
as they sang hymns of praise.
Judas started a royal dynasty that
lasted 100 years.
(2 Macc 10:1-9; cf. 1 macc 13:51).
Again, here is Jesus, the king who
will conquer and set God’s people free.
“Hosanna” (vv9&10) is a shout of
praise, but it means, “Save!”, “Save us now!”
It’s a cry for help.
Perhaps the people want Jesus to save
them from the Romans, who’re occupying the country.
Maybe they’re just thinking of a
political and military salvation.
Jesus is the Saviour, but he’s come to
save us from sin and Satan and death and hell.
He brings a greater more lasting
salvation than we might have imagined.
We sometimes think we know what Jesus
is about, but Jesus often has other ideas.
He doesn’t always fit in to our expectations.
Sometimes we have to radically
re-think.
Will we have Jesus on his terms?
The crowd who shout “Hosanna!” will
soon be shouting “Crucify!”
[Do you know the hymn: My Song Is Love
Unknown:]
“Sometimes they strew His way,
And His sweet praises sing;
Resounding all the day
Hosannas to their King:
Then “Crucify!” is all their breath,
And for His death they thirst and cry.”
And His sweet praises sing;
Resounding all the day
Hosannas to their King:
Then “Crucify!” is all their breath,
And for His death they thirst and cry.”
Are we fickle in the way we follow
Jesus?
Are we committed and consistent?
In v10 the crowd cries out, “Blessed
is the coming kingdom of our father David.”
Who knows how much the crowd
understand this, but in fact, the Kingdom of David is coming because Jesus the
King has come.
Jesus was literally a descendent of
King David.
Remember he was born in Bethlehem, the
city of David?
If you know your Christmas carols,
you’ll remember this from While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night:
"To
you, in David's town this day,
Is born of
David's line
The Saviour
who is Christ the Lord”
David had been promised that God would
establish his son’s throne for ever (2 Samuel 7:13).
Jesus is great king David’s greater
son.
He will reign for ever.
David was anointed as God’s chosen
king.
Christ or messiah means anointed one.
Jesus is God’s long-awaited, promised
rescuer king.
In v11, Jesus goes into the temple and
has a good look around.
What did Jesus make of the Temple?
The cleansing of the Temple, which
comes next, tells us.
He judged it as corrupt.
What would Jesus make of us?
What would Jesus think of our religion
and worship?
Will we bow the knee to King Jesus, on
his terms?
Will we do as he says and lay our all
at his feet?
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