Turn to Mark 11 please. This is Palm Sunday, the week before Easter. In John’s Gospel, the people waved palm branches when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. That’s why this is called Palm Sunday. Matthew and Mark mention branches, but not palms, and Luke does not mention branches at all. Today we’re doing Mark, so we have branches but not palms. But you’ll be happy to know that we can still call it Palm Sunday.
Jesus staged his entrance to Jerusalem. I have heard that when some people enter a room with a crowd, they plan how they will act when they enter, so the others in the room will notice them a certain way. They don’t want to just walk into the room, they want to “make an entrance,” to make some kind of impression on those in the room.
It does not sound like a bad idea, actually, although I don’t know if I’ve ever done that. I usually figure it out when I get there. Jesus, for his part, does not usually care about things like that, except just this once: he wanted to enter Jerusalem in a particular way. He wanted to send a message by how he set up his entrance into Jerusalem.
Remember that this is just a little before Passover. For the big feasts like Passover, Jewish pilgrims travelled from all over the place to be in Jerusalem. Jerusalem became two or three times its normal size because of all the Jews from elsewhere who came to Jerusalem to worship at the temple. So there will have been many people walking in to Jerusalem.
1 Jesus Announces that He’s the Coming King (Mark 11:1–6; Gen. 49:10–11; Zech. 9:9–10)
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’” They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.
Mark keeps talking about untying a donkey that’s tied up. “You will find a colt tied there.” “Untie it and bring it.” “They found a colt tied to a doorway.” “As they untied it, some people asked, ‘what are you doing untying that colt.’” “Tying” or “untying” the donkey occurs five times. Somehow, it is important to Mark that Jesus wants a donkey that’s tied up, so untie it.
This comes from a prophecy of old Jacob in Genesis 49. At the end of his life, Jacob blessed each of his twelve sons. Listen to this from Genesis 49 where he blessed his son Judah: He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch.
Here is the whole verse: The scepter will not depart from Judah, until he to whom it belongs shall come. The obedience of the nations shall be his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch.
Old Jacob told his son Judah that the tied-up donkey belongs to the ruler of nations that will eventually come from Judah. When Jesus sends his two disciples, what he means is, “That ruler is me, untie my donkey and bring it.” Mark assumes that we know old Jacob’s prophecy to Judah, and if Mark says “untie the tied up donkey” enough times, we will put it together.
Jesus veils this, of course. He does not say it openly. He gives people as much time as they need to figure it out. But he is telling whoever is listening that he’s the ruler that Jacob prophesied would come from Judah.
When Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, he also fulfills the better-known Scripture in Zechariah 9. Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey…. He will bring peace to the nations, and his rule will extend from sea to sea.
Zechariah wrote this with one eye on Jacob’s prophecy about the ruler from Judah tying up his donkey. Old Jacob did not just say he will tether his ‘donkey,” Jacob says his “donkey” and then he says his “colt.” So Zechariah says, “on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Zechariah used donkey and colt because Jacob used donkey and cold, and Zechariah got his prophecy from Jacob in Genesis 49.
We know Jesus fulfills Zechariah 9 because Matthew and John quote Zechariah 9 to explain Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Mark does not quote Zechariah 9, nor does Mark quote Jacob’s Genesis prophecy about tying up the donkey. Mark assumes his readers know the Bible and will figure it out. And now we have.
The Gospel of John tells us that the disciples did not make the Old Testament connections on that day, but they did later. If the disciples did not realize on that day that Jesus was fulfilling Zechariah 9, no one else did either.
Jesus staged his entrance, that’s what we need to see here: Jesus deliberately fulfilled Genesis 49 and Zechariah 9, acting out the role of the coming king. But no one caught that. They didn’t understand the Old Testament significance of what Jesus did.
So Jesus declared himself the coming Messiah without ever saying it. He did it with his actions. And his followers praised him, but did not understand the importance of his actions or their actions. So why exactly did Jesus enter this way? Because he knew he was the coming king, and this is how he was supposed to enter. Scripture said it, so his Father wanted it.
Whether or not anyone was paying attention, he was giving them a message about himself. He was the one these prophecies had in mind. He did not need them to understand it. He needed to fulfill the Scripture.
2 Disciples Make him King with their Clothes (Mark 11:7–8; 2 Kings 9)
When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.
In the Old Testament, in the days of Elisha, a man named Jehu was the commander of the Israelite army. (He was famous for driving a chariot like a madman, which has nothing to do with today’s sermon, but which I think merits honourable mention. There have been wild and reckless drivers for a long time.)
Jehu was with the army and his officers, and a prophet from God came to him and anointed him king of Israel. God was fed up with the current king, and so God had Jehu anointed king.
Jehu’s army officers immediately took their cloaks off and spread them out under him. They blew the trumpet and shouted, “Jehu is king!” Why did they take their cloaks off and lay them down for him to sit on? So he could stand or sit on a soft place? No.
The cloak represents the person. If I give you my coat to sit on, I am putting myself under you. My coat represents me, all of me, and I’m under you. It is an act of submission. It is a profound act, to me more significant than waving branches.
When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.
3 Disciples Make him King with their Voices (Mark 11:9–10)
Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
This praise is kind of generic. Vague about Jesus. If pilgrims were in a rejoicing mood, worshipping as Jewish pilgrims usually worshipped when they entered Jerusalem, they could probably say these things without Jesus being there at all. No one actually says, “Jesus is king!” Or anything like it.
Still, it all fits. They have seen God’s goodness through Jesus, and many think Jesus is the Christ and perhaps in some way he will take over Jerusalem, and this will get even better. In any case, with their coats and with their voices, the Lord’s followers honour him on this occasion, even if their words mean more than they realize.
4 Jesus Goes to the Temple (Mark 11:11)
Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
Jesus entered Jerusalem. Everyone else seems to have disappeared. Jesus went to the temple courts. It seems that this was his destination all along. Mark writes as if Jesus is alone. He takes a commanding look around, sees what’s happening, and then leaves with the Twelve, because it was late.
After what we call the triumphal entry, this is a little weird. Here’s how one of my commentaries puts it: Getting to Jerusalem would appear to be the moment for Jesus to receive the messianic kingdom. But ironically, nothing happens. The celebrating crowds mysteriously disappear. In a complete anticlimax, Mark tells us that it was late so Jesus left with the Twelve for Bethany.
We call this the triumphal entry, and in Matthew and John it is more triumphal. But Mark’s story is significant for what it omits. The whole scene comes to nothing as soon as they enter the city. The crowd is like the seed that receives the word with joy, but has no root and does not last.
By telling the story this way, Mark wants us to warn us. He warns us against mistaking enthusiasm for faith, and mistaking popularity for discipleship. Jesus was indeed the Messiah that Jacob and Zechariah predicted, but he was veiled and unrecognized. Even in the temple, standing in the centre of Jewish faith, Mark reports him as standing alone. (James Edward, The Gospel According to Mark, 2002, 337–338).
But we can do something today. We don’t get to walk beside Jesus as he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. But we have coats that we can lay on the floor here today to be his throne. By putting our coats on the floor, and inviting Jesus to sit on them, we put ourselves under him. We tell him we want him to be our king. So I am going to close in prayer, and right after that we will get our coats from the back and put them on the floor here at the front. Maybe someone will lead us in the first verse of “Joy to the World, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her king. Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing.” Right after I pray.
PRAYER: O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have scars in your hands and your feet, and you are King of kings and Lord of lords. And we are so fortunate to be your flock. Thank you for laying down your life for your sheep. And now, Lord, we want to live like those who put their cloaks down for you to sit on and ride on. May our whole lives show that you are the King of kings. Bless us by leading us in your ways. Amen.
BENEDICTION: May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and into Christ’s perseverance. May the Lord of peace give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. Amen. Go in God’s peace to love and serve the Lord.