Hooray for Salvation - Mark 11:1-11
Palm Sunday has been celebrated for at least 1500 years.
Mark's account of holy week is different from the other gospels. Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, goes in the temple, looks around and leaves.
This parallels Leviticus 14, regarding what to do with mold in your house... mold was a picture of sin. They'd send for a priest; if he found mold, he'd leave and come back a few days later... If mold was still there, he'd remove it very thoroughly! The temple of the Lord was meant to be a house of prayer... But it had become full of sin, moldy.
He flips over the corrupt money tables, removes the mold.
The fig tree... It produces no fruit, he curses it, it withers and dies. This is what's happening with the temple.
Mark 11:1-11
Mount of Olives... The Qidron valley (known biblically as the Valley of Jehoshaphat or the Valley of Kings) is hundreds of feet below. When Jesus accents the Mount, it's quite a hike... And a LOT of people, tens of thousands, likely welcomed his arrival, cheering him on.
V1-6... Why does he ride on a donkey? Matthew quotes from Zechariah 9:9... the coming king would ride in on a donkey, a peaceful kingly transport animal, not a warlike animal like a horse.
V7... Hosanna means literally "Save, I pray!" It's more accurately translated, "Salvation is here!"
V11... All 4 gospels are building to passion narratives. At this point, even the stones were ready to sing! There's been a huge buildup to the moment, and Jesus just looks around the temple, and leaves. So anticlimactic!
That's our text.
1. The Maccabees were looking for a savior to liberate them from the Romans. They were sick of Roman oppression! They kept making people kings, false messiahs. They wanted to take the fight to the Romans, and for Jesus to overthrow the Romans. But he'd die by crucifixion, punishment reserved for the worst of the worst.
They were furious with him for turning over their tables, rather than Roman tables!
Everyone missed the point: he came not to kill the Romans, but to convert them!
Proximity is not knowledge. You don't receive God's Spirit by coming to church, reading your Bible, or listening to Christian music.
The crowds here probably love that Jesus is there. Enthusiasm is never to be mistaken for faith! The parable of the sower... Satan is happy as long as the seed lands badly.
Think of the triumphal entry as a modern day event... Modern churches would claim they had 40,000 new converts and pat themselves on the back. Then when they all left, they'd say they all backslid.
In the Bible, it's discipleship that's important, not revival. We must endure, and abide in him! We all need mercy every day, as we fail every day. Reach out to people who seem to backsliding. Get them to return, her the Word to them!
2. The lion and the lamb...
The lamb rode in on a donkey... When he comes again, he'll return as a lion holding a sword, on a white horse! A war horse. His feet will touch the Mount of Olives, splitting it in half! He'll crush the armies of Satan and the Antichrist.
Palm Sunday is a reminder of God's first coming, but also a reminder of God's second coming!
3. Hosanna...
When we take communion, we remember the work Jesus did for us. We're called to remember this every week. On special holy days like Palm Sunday, we remember our lowly position and that Jesus came to bring us peace with the Father!
We're so blessed to know so much about Jesus! Abraham, Moses, David could only wonder what God would eventually do. But we know what he's done! He loved us so much he sent his son to redeem us!
All men in the Old Testament eventually failed. We could not save ourselves! The entire story of humanity was building to this moment. Palm Sunday is a yearly reminder to shout, "Salvation is here!"
He came on a donkey, and will return on a horse!