B-Side - Mark 11:1-11

Mark 11:1-11

2 most important Christian holidays... Christmas and Easter? Hmm... the Christmas story is only recorded in two of the Gospels, while Good Friday and Easter are both recorded in all four.

Palm Sunday is important in preparing us for Good Friday.

v1-2...

On the day of the Lord, Jesus will descend from Heaven and the Mount of Olives will split in two! Jesus gives the Olivet Discourse there, he ascends into Heaven there; it's a very important place in Scripture, with God's glory attached to it in every case.

The donkey colt... Jesus is riding into Jerusalem humbly as a king on a donkey, not a warrior on a horse. Genesis 49:8ff... riding on a colt... a man of Judah will always rule, and nations will bring him tribute. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a colt; no one else may ride a king's animal but the king. 

v3-6...

According to John 2, Jesus had already been to Jerusalem earlier, and cleansed the temple. It could be that he's cleared the temple twice. So Jesus may have known the man whose donkey was taken... or it was just miraculous that the donkey owner just let them take it.

v7-8... Why cloaks and palm branches? Because they believe Jesus was the new Maccabee, who's come to defeat the Romans. Also in 2 Kings 9ff, one way King Jehu was received was that people laid out their cloaks and palm branches for him.

v9-10...

Scripture was written in chiasms... the point of emphasis was the middle of a passage, not the top or bottom. The praise is shouted chiastically! "Hooray for salvation!" is a good translation of Hosanna. The middle, however, is a quote from Psalm 118:25, "Save us, we pray, o Lord! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

The people are pointing to the hope of Psalm 118! Ps118:28... you are my God; your steadfast love endures forever. The Pharisees don't like that they're unwittingly declaring him to be God!

v11...

1. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in Bethany; he was very familiar with Bethany; it was something of a home base for him, and supported him. Here he finds rest.

2. It was already late... could mean it was late in the day, could mean he wanted to get back to Bethany before it was too dark. Or it may be a nod to the prophetic time of the temple. "It was already late" may mean the temple was at the end of an era.

Let's read the things that happened the next day, Holy Monday...

v12-14... he curses the fig tree because it wasn't fig season.

v15-19... he overturns the tables in the temple. His Father's house was a house of prayer, not a place of the abuse of money!

That's how we should think about Holy Monday... drive out the bad things, and give ourselves to prayer and to teaching. Preparing for Good Friday and Easter, walking in holiness, prayer, and studying God's Word!