Take our New Testaments now, our Bibles for our New Testament reading. We’re making the gospel of Mark, our sermon text this morning, Mark chapter 11. Before we hear from the Lord once more, let’s add his blessing upon the reading and the preaching and the reception of that word. Let’s pray together.

Our gracious God and heavenly Father, we do thank you and praise you for this, your day. We thank you that You’ve not left us to grope around in the dark, but that you have given us a most sure word, Lord, that we may base our life upon, and Lord, that we may indeed conform ourselves to it as we submit ourselves to it. Lord, we ask that you would continue to grow us and to help us to learn from it all that is necessary for life and godliness, and Lord, that we would believe what we hear. Lord, we ask that you would work through this word, your word, for our sanctification, to challenge us, to grow us, to refresh us, and to remind us just who you are and just who we are in you. And so we ask, Lord, that the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, our rock and our redeemer. If we ask all of this in Christ’s name, and all God’s people said, amen. Amen.

Mark chapter 11, starting at verse one. Once more, give your attention, this is the word of the true and the living God.

Now, when they drew near to Jerusalem to Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the village in front of you. And immediately as you enter in, you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone asks you, why are you doing this? Say, the Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately. And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, what are you doing, untying the colt? And they told him what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, 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. And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. When he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

The word of the Lord. He had his blessing upon it at this time, you may be seated.

I wonder if you’ve ever desired something, only to realize when you got it, you regretted it, or it ended up hurting you to your detriment. Often we desire things in our lives, only to find out that once they are granted, or if granted, they would be to our own harm. This morning we come to a text with exactly that theme at its core. And I hope as we come to this text that’s familiar to most of us, that we would see with new eyes all that is going on here in this passage, and the work of God in the midst of this text, saving a people from themselves and from their own desires. So with that in mind, let us look at Mark chapter 11, this first section that speaks of God’s salvation, the way that he saves and fulfills according to his sovereignty and his providence, remembering that he is good, his way is good, and he is sovereign. and he is holy. And we see this in a number of ways in this passage. The outline for this passage will be, first, we’re going to look at the carrier of the king in verses 1 to 7, right? The carrier of the king, this curious case of this donkey and the details that are given, the carrier of the king. And then we’re gonna look at verses 8 and 8 to 10 to the coming of the king, the king’s coming and his kingdom with him. And then in verse 11, this passage ends with, the curious inaction of the king, right? It’s very interesting the way that this climax is kind of an anti-climax. But first, let’s look at the first seven verses, the carrier of the king. The text here opens in a very normal, usual, typical way, giving locations. It’s not odd for the Gospel of Mark. It’s very normal. Here’s where Jesus is. Here’s where he’s headed. A lot of times we read through these kind of things and they don’t mean a lot to us. And then once this opening happens or is given with location and direction, we’re simply told that Jesus begins to tell his disciples that he wants a donkey. He wants this cult. We’re given no explanation as to why he is asking this. but that they’re to go and they’re to find this one and to take it. And if someone asks why you’re taking this colt, which seems to be a pretty likely question, right? If you go and take someone’s property, what are you doing? Why are you taking this donkey? Just say, don’t worry, the master has need of it and he’ll return it. And they’ll respond, fine, take it and bring it back when you’re done. And then Mark, in a really odd way, retells the details of everything that he’s just said, right? And you know, it goes on. And so they went and they found the donkey untied it, and sure enough, someone asks, what are you doing with the donkey? And they tell him what Jesus had told them, and they let them take it, and they go, and Jesus sits upon the donkey. And again, because we’re familiar with this story, it doesn’t strike us as strangely as maybe it should, the way that Mark puts all this effort into telling this part of the story. We have to remember that Mark’s gospel is very condensed, It’s a very short book, right? Historically, it’s referred to as the panting gospel, because it just goes, all these words immediately, they’re short, it’s quick. He’s left out many details that the other gospels indeed record for us. Even so, Mark takes the time to commit seven verses to meticulously tell us these things about this donkey, this animal for Jesus to ride upon. this carrier of the king. And we would have to ask the question, well, why is that? Why would he give all this attention? Normally in English, this is odd. We don’t do this. If you’re reading a story, usually the story has a description of events. We usually don’t have the retelling, the repetition, the recitation of exactly the same events as they happen, right? You would think, why is this, this is dead, this is filler, right? Why is this, why is it repeating? Just say, and then it happened, right, and be done with it. Why give all these details unless there’s some reason that you’d be giving all these details in such a drawn out way, in such a drawn out kind of manner? Well, that’s what Mark is doing, indeed, trying to show us something and telling us this particular story to show us what Christ is doing. And he gives us these details and repeats exactly how they unfold. And what are those details, right? It begins how? It says, he begins on the Mount of Olives. from the east, Christ will enter Jerusalem. And he will be riding on a donkey. And he expects us as readers, as we hear these things, to say, oh, I see what he’s talking about. I get it. And yet because not all of us are super familiar with the Old Testament, we often don’t read this repetition and these details and think, oh, I see it. I see all that’s freighted here into the text. And so let’s look at some of what’s going on here at the beginning of this passage that Mark gives us and wants us to understand that he indeed is freighting, that he’s bringing into this text, right? Why the crowd’s response should be something very meaningful to us, but also the very misunderstanding by the ones who are speaking and do respond to this. The first thing that we notice, again, is we’re told that Christ is drawing near to Jerusalem. the holy city, and he’s coming from the east. And on his way, we see that his starting point is the Mount of Olives, the Mount of Olives. Now, again, that doesn’t mean a whole lot to us, but there are Old Testament texts that speak of this very specifically, very pointedly. Zechariah 14 speaks of this great and awesome day of the Lord, and it says this in verse 4 of Zechariah 14. On that day, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the mount shall move northward and the other half southward. Right, and when you have this, right, texts that talk about this location and give it, it gives all this further significance. It says that one day God himself is going to stand on this mountain. And when he does, he’s going to head towards Jerusalem. And as he does, these mountains will split, making a road for him to travel on. And then the author says, and by the way, he’s on the way. He’s on the Mount of Olives. We should at least be paying attention, right? These threads should be brought to our attention. Now, this alone wouldn’t be enough for us to make such a huge conclusion, except that’s not all that Mark gives us. Right? And we’ll look at that, but before I move on, the context of that verse that I just read from Zechariah 14, it tells us about the arrival of God on the Mount of Olives, and he tells us what will happen on that day. And it says, this is Zechariah 14, 1, Behold, the day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst, for I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle. and the city shall be taken, and the house is plundered, and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. So it’s talking about this terrible time in Israel’s history when a foreign occupation will be taking place in the nations and all these travesties and calamities happening. They’re going on and half the city will be cut off. And then it goes on to say, then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives.” And it goes into the passage that I read earlier. And the conclusion of all this is, if we continue in Zechariah, is that, then the Lord my God will come and all his holy ones will be with him. On that day, there will be no light, cold, or frost. There will be a unique day, which is known to the Lord. And then it goes on to say, on that day, Israel will be established, and the Lord will be king over all the earth. So this particular location, right, the Mount of Olives, and in particular, it’s fact that Christ is beginning there and he’s heading towards Jerusalem, right, at least in the midst of the Israelites, is a location that in the future, where God is going to arrive, and he’s going to do battle with the enemies, of his people, their enemies, the Gentiles, the nations. It’s something that’s important to their history, and it’s ultimately important to their future. And so Mark begins with this particular reference to all of this, right? He’s bringing this in. And again, notice what Mark says next. He starts to get into all the detail about securing this colt, this donkey, this carrier of the king. And where does all of that come from? Where do we hear this language of riding on a colt? Well, it’s the same book of the Bible, Zechariah chapter 9, a little earlier. The same prophet speaks about a time where he says this, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation as he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. So notice there’s this other time in Israel’s history, these times when God comes and God as king comes. These two figures, God’s Messiah and God himself. And the Messiah will be known because he will ride in on a donkey. And what’s interesting is that if you go back to Zechariah, what happens next? We see this kind of humble arrival, this coming humble and righteous as he. He’s not riding on a chariot. He’s not riding on a war horse. He’s riding, according to Zechariah, lowly on a donkey. But Zechariah, that passage doesn’t go on to say in the text that he acts like this gentle, meek king. That’s not what it says. It says he vanquishes his enemies. He destroys the nations. He begins to do battle against the enemies of Israel. And he’s established as the king above all the kings of the earth. And all of Israel’s enemies are put underneath them. They are put down. And this time of righteous reign begins in the nation. The text talks about this. The text about this donkey ends by saying, his rule shall be from sea to sea and from the rivers to the ends of the earth. Right, so think of this background, this context, all that Mark is bringing in here. Both of these texts are speaking, they’re referring about a time in Israel’s future when they will be finally established by God. Finally, and the means that God’s employs is establishing them is to defeat their enemies. And the way that this is clearly read in the Old Testament, how is this done? It’s done through war. God is coming as a God of battle. His Messiah is coming to cut off the enemies before him. No matter how humbly he comes, he will be a warrior king. And they will have a rain that goes from sea to sea, from the rivers to the ends of the earth. The whole world will be under the reign of this righteous king and the God of Israel. And here we have Mark in chapter 11, Christ beginning in the Mount of Olives, headed towards Jerusalem, riding on this particular donkey that Zechariah had said would come one day in Israel’s future. And Mark is saying, by slowing the narrative down and giving us all this detail, Jesus told him to go get a donkey. And he said, when you get there, go and untie it, and when you untie it, bring it to me. He wants to make sure that we don’t miss all of these things that were told in the Old Testament. All of these signals, they’re about to happen right there at that present time. And we know this further by the next thing that takes place as we continue in this passage. In verses 8 to 10, we see the coming of the king. Notice what it says, and many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches or palm branches that have been cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who were following were shouting, 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. So whether they fully get it, they get it enough to enter into this sort of celebration, this pageantry. And again, these things are odd to us in our culture, right? We don’t typically see people laying down their clothes for others to walk on in the middle of the street. When was the last time you did that? I’ve never done that. And yet they take off their outer cloaks and they gladly lay them down. And the question is why? What does this have to do with anything? What does this gesture symbolize? It’s not just a random thing. And again, if we’re familiar with our Old Testament well enough, this is something that we’ve seen before there in the Old Testament. There was another king who had cloaks laid before him, and he was declared as king in this symbolic action. And that king, you’ll remember, was Jehu. Remember when Jehu was in some dispute as to whether the kingdom was his or not. And it says in 2 Kings 9, and thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel. And as soon as that’s spoken, there’s this immediate response. And the response, look what happens in 2 Kings 9, 13. Then in haste, every man of them took off his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, Jehu is king. So as soon as they heard on this divine authority from the Lord, Jehu is king, all of them immediately take off their robes and throw them at his feet so that he has a place to walk on as their king declared by God. And it’s their way of symbolically saying, you’re the one who rules over us. You are the king of Israel. And so as these people Similar, they do this on Christ’s road as he’s riding on this donkey, all that that means. And they’re saying something very similar, right, in this symbolic action. And we’re gonna see that it only builds from there. They’re saying this one, this one we’re proclaiming King of Israel. And again, we learn from the other gospels. They also waved, right, what we know as palm branches. And so there’s Christ on the road with the robes laying before him, and they’re waving palm branches in this victory celebration. And notice the words that are coming forth from their mouths. Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And Hosanna, you’ll remember, means save us, we pray. Save us to cry for help. But it’s a cry not just into the blue. It’s not just a cry to help in general. It’s a cry for help to one who you know has the power to deliver you. And at face value, it seems like this Jerusalem parade is glorifying God in this praise. Save us, we pray. They have this implicit trust, it seems, in this one who is riding on the donkey. We want you to deliver us, and we trust that you’re the deliverer that we’re waiting for. And notice how they frame, notice how they describe what this is. It says, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Or another way you could phrase that is blessed is the coming one in the name of the Lord. So blessed the coming one in the Lord’s name, and then blessed to be the kingdom of our father David, right? They’re saying the same thing, they’re repeating in their praise. They’re both saying blessed to be the Messiah and the kingdom of David that he brings. We will trust. We trust that you’re going to be the one to deliver us. And they quote Psalm 118 that we just heard earlier. Some of the features of that Psalm, as you heard, the Psalmist is saying, I was surrounded by enemies, but in the name of the Lord, I cut them off. I cut them off. I cut them off. And he repeats it several times to let you know that he went to do battle and God protected him. And he cut off all of the enemies of Israel. And ultimately, he was victorious. in battle over God’s enemies. And they begin to celebrate, blessed be the rain that comes through this kind of military victory over God’s enemies. I was in a weak place, but God raised me up and he gave me victory. He gave me success and power in battle. Well, given the context of all this that’s coming in through Mark, Zechariah, these clear prophecies about the one riding on a colt will give them success over their enemies. The things that they’re doing in symbolic gesture, laying down their garments, declaring him king, waving palm branches as a sign of military victory, claiming that he’s the one who actually is bringing the Davidic kingdom. And he’s the one who is the coming one that he has been promised, the one who has been promised in the Davidic line. Now, there’s a lot going on. And we say, okay, we get that, all that is true. And Mark would say, that’s right, exactly what I’m bringing. So what I’ve been telling you from the first chapter of the gospel, this is the son of God, the one to come and everything that he preaches, he preaches concerning the fact that the kingdom of God is indeed at hand. But the problem is, of course, is what they mean by all these things and what their expectation is for this king who has come. There’s no way we can read these Old Testament texts and not think about their greatest hope at this point is that Jesus really is the Davidic Messiah. And that’s a good thing. And he is we want him to be according to Mark. This is who he is. And therefore his actions must be and will be to overthrow their enemies. This is naturally what they’re going to be thinking. This is their reflex. They want to be safe from their foreign occupation. They want to be safe from the fact that Rome has polluted their holy land. They no longer want to be taxed and abused by Caesar. They no longer want to corrupt kings in Israel. They want Jesus to come and to clean house and to save them, but to save them in terms that they imagined he was coming to do so. Their expectation was very high. Has it ever dawned on you? Being reminded, coming into this text, reading what’s going on, the irony of this text, the great irony. You know, the crowds, right, who are shouting now, Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed are he who comes in the name of the Lord. In this text are the crowds that will be shouting, in just a few chapters, crucify him, crucify him. And there’s a grand irony about this celebration in the middle of Mark’s gospel. There hasn’t been this sort of reception thus far in any kind of fanfare or delight, singing, dancing, laying down their cloaks. Like, this is a big deal, what’s going on here. There is high expectations. But what is strange is how Mark ends the text, right? As I said earlier, it’s very, if it’s not like struck you, it’s odd the way that it comes, right? And this is in verse 11, this curious inaction of the king, right? He entered into Jerusalem, which is exactly what he should do. If he’s the Messiah, come to claim David’s throne. And he came to the temple, which is exactly what you would think he would do if he’s come to do so, and if he is who he said he was. And then what happens? Verse 11 says, And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. Right? And that’s kind of startling. You can read all sorts of different accounts of rulers conquering, coming in different lands. And it’s uncommon for, it’s not uncommon for them to come in and make a triumphal entry. and to make their presence known to the people, to give them praise, whether they want to or not, because at that point, you don’t have a choice, right? You’re a conquered people. And then they go to their established places of worship, and they make statements there of some sort about their preeminence and their rule, either by offering sacrifices or worshiping to their own gods in the conquered people’s temple, and so claiming a certain sort of preeminence over their realm. That’s kind of the standard protocol. Jesus makes his entry. The crowd there is giving him praise. He enters the temple, he looks around, and then it’s like, let’s head back to the hotel, right? There’s nothing done. It’s like a false start. We expect there to be something much more dramatic than this. They expect something much more fantastic to happen. It seems like a bit of a letdown with all the Old Testament import into these verses, with all the fanfare of the crowd, with all the expectation of what is to come next. And then Jesus comes into the temple and he doesn’t do a single thing. We’ll see all the temple action that’s to take place in the coming passages. But it’s an odd thing that this text seems just to end right there. And what you see looks like an anti-climax. And that really is the point of the text. We’ll find as Jesus enters the temple, he saw plenty there, plenty that assure him of his mission as the Davidic Messiah, would not be a waste, and that he really was coming to set the people free, to save them from their enemies. Israel’s God, we see, was coming to clear Israel. from enemies, from those who were unholy, from those who had polluted their holy places. And we’ll learn in the rest of this chapter that when he goes into the temple, he sees all kinds of money being exchanged improperly. He sees the court of the Gentiles filled to the brim so that the nations can’t enter in and worship in the holy place. He sees a polluted leadership in Israel, and he’s ultimately going to condemn that temple and all who find their hope therein. And so if Jesus comes and answers their cry in the way that they believe they wanted it answered, if Jesus comes and says, you wanna be saved the way that you’re asking for? You want me to bring God’s military action against God’s enemies now? What happens to Israel? What happens to Israel? All of them are destroyed. The whole nation is cleared out. because they are a corrupt people. And it’s not just the Gentiles who will be punished, it’s the unrighteous in Israel. And in Christ seeing the temple and the pollution of that temple and how far they had fallen from God, if Christ was to give them what they wanted, what they were expecting, what they were anticipating, it would have sealed their damnation and their hopelessness. Christ loved them enough not to give them the sword of salvation. that they thought they needed. And instead, he’s willing in his action and the actions that he will take against the temple to ultimately turn the favor of the crowd into utter disdain for him. And those actions will force the followers to be silenced, their cheers will be silenced, and ultimately begin this sort of murmuring that quickly turns and cries for this man to be killed. killed because of his disrespect, because of seemingly being out of place in the way that Israel is supposed to function and what’s supposed to happen. What the crowd cannot see and cannot yet understand is that the kingdom of their father, David, has indeed arrived. But it will arrive in its greatest power when this one who has received David’s mantle will begin to rule with being anointed by spittle. He’ll be crowned with thorns and will be enthroned upon a Roman cross in order to answer, truly answer that cry, save us, we pray. And there he hangs in order that he might finally have the hope that they need, that they might finally have the hope that they need to be delivered. He would not answer their cry for the sort of salvation that they wanted because that sort of salvation damns And brothers and sisters, I hope you hear in this, if you’ve tuned out, tune back in, right? So that our own understanding, our own unanswered prayers and wishes and desires, right? So many of them, how many of us, how many times have we begged God to remove specific physical discomforts or financial limitations or to remove people from our lives who are agitating us? And if God was to answer those prayers, to remove those sorts of sufferings, Those would be the very things that end up being our downfall. For you would have no need or trust in him. Or you would not cry out for the mercy that is necessary for your life. These people, had they had their cries answered, they would have been damned for certain and left to our own devices, we would as well. And yet how often still we believe that our own salvation is based on might and on power, and are becoming possessors of all good things now. You were not created and promised comfort and unending joy in our lives, right? The sufferings that we endure are badges of belonging to our Savior, Jesus Christ. For him it was suffering and then glory, and for you it will be suffering and then glory. Christ knew that our greatest enemy that needed to be defeated was sin and the death that it brought and the devil who tempted us in that particular state. And he would not rest until he humbly and dutifully and mercifully went to a cross, not to give us what we wanted or to give us what even we were asking for, but to give us exactly what we needed so we might really be restored to being truly human in a relationship and communion with our God, the God of all creation. He listened to the cries. Had he done so of the world, the world would be lost. Had he allowed us a kingdom built on self. Lord, come into my life and answer all of my requests. Had that been the case, we would have all been lost. But he loves us enough to give us a savior. who meets our actual and our greatest need, that you and I are separated from a holy God, that we are in dire, broken, crippled state because of sin, and he who is willing to become king on a cross to restore you and to redeem you from that, in order that one day, at the end of this life, a new creation comes, you will have the fullness of all these things promised. You know that 2 Corinthians passage, behold, new creation. We are already part of that, not yet to be fulfilled, but it is true if you belong to Christ. But in order to get you there, he must say no to our wants, because he knows that what you need, he knows that what you need. And he will not rest until he sees this salvation purchased by Christ, made fully formed in you, until you finally see Christ. And when you see him, you become like him, for you shall see him as he is. So may we, brothers and sisters, bless God that he actually loves us enough not to give us what we ask for, but instead gives us a Savior who came to deliver us from the things that were truly destroying us. and even destroying us in this day. And may we truly praise him that we yet have this one who has answered that cry. Hosanna, save us, we pray. And his answer to that question is a cross, and the salvation that it secures for each and every one who trusts in him. As you go back from this place, back into your world, remember these things. Remember these truths for your lives, for your discomfort, for your sufferings, for your pain. We are not called to do more and more and more, but to remember who we are and who Jesus is. And the promise is that the Spirit will work in your hearts to change you and to grow you and to give you assurance and comfort and joy, even in the midst of sufferings. This is his promise to you, dear people, to go back into the world and live your lives for this King, this Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.