Mark 11:1-11

A triumphal entry into Jerusalem
Mark 11:1-11

As I mentioned in the beginning of this series on Mark, a third of the book deals with Jesus’ last week on earth.  Today we are there!  So, why devote such a chunk of the book to one week?  It is because Mark (man of action) wants you, the reader, to get to the exciting, important bits.  It is in this last week of Jesus’ life that we find joy, sorrow, important teaching, some really thick plots, death, and salvation for all of mankind.  This is exciting stuff!

At this point in the book, a countdown begins.  Mark 11:1-11 is titled “Sunday – A triumphal entry into Jerusalem.”  What is this countdown?  It’s a countdown to the death of Jesus.

We learned in last week’s lesson that Jesus, knowing full well what was about to happen (because He knew God’s plan), ran towards Jerusalem, the city of His fate.  The countdown begins as Jesus enters the city gates on the Sunday before Passover.

Early on in chapter 11, Jesus asks some of His disciples to go get a donkey that He might ride in to the city.  In doing so, Jesus fulfills a very important prophesy that is found in Zechariah 9:9:

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Zechariah predicted this 500 years before Christ.  Yes, for you devil’s advocates, Jesus probably did know about the prophesy, but Zechariah was dead-on about the coming of Alexander the Great as well 100 years before that event happened (Zech 9:1-8), so either he actually saw these events coming, or he was a really good guesser.  I’ll say that Zechariah saw this event in Jesus’ life 500 years before it happened. (By the way, Jesus also fulfilled some prophesies that he couldn’t possibly have “rigged” like where He was born [Bethlehem; Micah 5:2-3] and of what lineage [from the line of David; Isaiah 9:6-7].  In all, Jesus fulfilled at least 109 prophesies, and possibly as many as 300+ depending on who’s counting.  The odds of that happening are immeasurable).

Anyway (now stealing liberally from the thoughts of Ray van der Laan), The crowd knew that Jesus was the Messiah, and they were shouting Hosanna (Save us!) despite orders from the Jewish leaders and the Romans to keep the peace.   The people were also waiving palm branches — the national symbol of Israel.  This was the triumphal entry of a new king who would kick out the Romans, not the entry of the Savior who would forgive everyone — even the Romans.

Pilot, the Roman ruler of Jerusalem at the time, was charged with keeping the peace during Passover at the cost of his life — he would not have tolerated any dissension — certainly not the fervent shouts for a new ruler.  Jesus was a marked man from this point on, but Jesus was also not the king the people were looking for.  Jesus came to save the world, not just to save the Jews from the Romans.  No wonder some of the people turned on Him when He turned out not to be the conqueror they sought.  The countdown begins.  And thank God for the eventual outcome!