MARKAN MEDITATIONS

Meditations in the Gospel of St. Mark

St. Mark 11:1-11

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THE HISTORY recorded in these verse is one of the most well known events concerning Jesus. For any who belong to a church, at least in the Church of England, this event is commemorated every year on Palm Sunday with different degrees of celebration. In spite of this perhaps we do not enter into the meaning and significance of it as we should.

The details of the story are remarkable in themselves. The way Jesus obtained the colt reveals the divine authority and sovereignty of Jesus. He could tell his disciples to fetch the colt and know there would be no trouble because by divine kingly authority he had arranged all things, and ordered the owner and neighbours to bow to his authority. Yet it was no arbitrary authority. All is done with consideration. The owner of the colt is assured that his animal will be returned safely, after the honour that had been bestowed on it to carry the King of Glory.

Then there is the clarity of the statement Jesus was making. He was deliberately fulfilling the divine promise concerning the promised Messiah given by Zechariah in chapter 9 verse 9. He was plainly revealing himself as the Messiah by fulfilling the prophecy. That this revelation was understood and appreciated is seen in the accolade of the crowd. Their Hosanna's proclaimed that they understood, at least at the time, whatever doubts may have risen later, that Jesus was the promised king and he was ushering in the kingdom which God had promised.

But there is the clear indication by Jesus that his kingdom was not earthly. He entered Jerusalem humbly on a colt. The only pomp that was provided was by the enthusiasm of the crowd who recognized their Messiah. There was nothing of earthly pomp and glory about this entry into the city. No earthly king would have dreamt of entering his kingdom on a donkey. There was no threat to the Jews and their earthly sovereignty or to the Roman empire. There were no weapons. There had been no long period of planning and plotting in an earthly sense. Indeed Jesus did not attempt to sway the crowd towards him. Their hosanna's were spontaneous.

Yet in his act of entering as the King and Messiah, Jesus was proclaiming that the Kingdom of which he was king was now near, and was open for membership to all who would believe on him. This was a wonderful declaration. Christ's kingdom is spiritual and eternal, and he opened it to all who believe. Gone is fear of death, and the empty aims and goals of the world. Now is open to all through faith in Jesus an eternal kingdom, where we know full purpose and satisfaction as we fulfil in service and love of God what we have been created for.

The underlying revelation is glorious and wonderful. It is true that Jesus made no long preparations for this entry and declaration in an earthly sense. He had not planned it with his disciples over a long period of time. Yet it was the fulfilment of a predetermined plan of history concerning God's redemptive purposes for the world. Jesus was fulfilling in detail all that he had planned with the God, the Father and the Holy Spirit, even before the foundation of the world. God's eternal love and grace to sinners was being worked out. History was being ordered with sovereign power and certainty to meet the goal of God's love to redeem sinners from Satan, death and hell.

The fact that Jesus fulfilled this purpose here and always, reveals to us the comforting certainty that God's purpose of love to save us has been and are being carried out, and history, which seems to be so out of control to us, is being order certainly to fulfil God's eternal designs of love. The Jewish authorities would have certainly liked to stop this entry. Humanly speaking all the power was in their hands, but here as before, when the crux came, they were powerless to hinder the forward progress of the working of salvation by Jesus.

Faith in Jesus as Saviour places us in the security of the King who orders all things in heaven and earth, and in whose hands all history must submit to the glorious realisation of his redeeming love. Satan fights through his citizens, and causes so much devastation and mayhem in the world, so that we fear all is out of control, yet King Jesus is in control. Just as none could thwart his declaration of himself here as the Messiah, so no power on earth can thwart his will, and all history, however bizarre, is in fact working to the fulfilment of God's redeeming love.

Let us be comforted by this. Let us read this history of the triumphal entry and see in it the total sovereignty and power of our King to redeem and keep his subjects in his love.