Mark 11: 1 – 11
What’s The Password
Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; 2 and He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. 3 And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it,’ and immediately he will send it here.” 4 So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. 5 But some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, loosing the colt?” 6 And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go. 7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it. 8 And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ 10 Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!” 11 And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.
The Triumphal Entry is recorded in all three Gospels. Let’s take a look at what the others wrote.
Matthew 21:1-11, “Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. 3 And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” 4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: 5 “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” 6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. 8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?” 11 So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”
Luke 19:28-40 “28 When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. 31 And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’” 32 So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. 33 But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?” 34 And they said, “The Lord has need of him.” 35 Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. 36 And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road. 37 Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, 38 saying: “ ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” 40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”
John 12:12-19 “12 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’
The King of Israel!” 14 Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: 15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming,
Sitting on a donkey’s colt.” 16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him. 17 Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. 18 For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. 19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!”
What differences did you pick up on? Well, first of all you see that all 4 Gospels are describing the same event and to a large degree give the same information.
They all explain that on His final visit to Jerusalem our Lord Jesus reveals Himself to the world as the coming Messiah and King by deliberately fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9, “Rejoice greatly, Oh daughter of Zion, shout, Oh daughter of Jerusalem, behold your king comes to you. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on an ass, even on a colt, the foal of an ass”. This prophecy by the way is only listed by Matthew.
The Son of God’s triumphant entrance into Jerusalem only had meaning for those with eyes to see. You see, many pilgrims were arriving in Jerusalem for the Passover, and some would ride on asses, although they would be the exceptions for it was not usual for pilgrims to ride into Jerusalem at the feast. There was a tradition that at Passover time Jerusalem should be entered on foot. So our Lord Jesus was deliberately drawing attention to His uniqueness as prophesied.
However, at Passover time pilgrims generally would be greeted by festive crowds shouting out to God. We read in Psalm 118 which was in fact a Psalm regularly used at the Passover, these words, “Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. 2 Let Israel now say, “His mercy endures forever.” 3 Let the house of Aaron now say, “His mercy endures forever.” 4 Let those who fear the LORD now say, “His mercy endures forever.” 5 I called on the LORD in distress; The LORD answered me and set me in a broad place. 6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? 7 The LORD is for me among those who help me; Therefore I shall see my desire on those who hate me. 8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. 9 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. 10 All nations surrounded me, but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me; But in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 12 They surrounded me like bees; They were quenched like a fire of thorns; For in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 13 You pushed me violently, that I might fall, but the LORD helped me.
14 The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. 15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation Is in the tents of the righteous; The right hand of the LORD does valiantly. 16 The right hand of the LORD is exalted; The right hand of the LORD does valiantly. 17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. 18 The LORD has chastened me severely, but He has not given me over to death. 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, and I will praise the LORD. 20 This is the gate of the LORD, through which the righteous shall enter. 21 I will praise You, for You have answered me, and have become my salvation. 22 The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. 23 This was the LORD’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save now, I pray, O LORD;
O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity. 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the LORD. 27 God is the LORD,
And He has given us light; Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. 28 You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, I will exalt You. 29 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
It was a time when hopes were high. It was always thought possible that the Messiah might reveal Himself at the feast.
Thus when the great prophet that they had heard about, and many had probably actually seen in action and had dealings with, arrived in this way, they greeted Him even more enthusiastically than they did ordinary pilgrims. But they did not on the whole realize the truth of their words, that the king was now here to bring salvation, although no doubt some probably did cherish such hopes. They rather described Him as ‘the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee’.. To them the whole scene was like a religious carnival.
Mark does not mention that it was an ass on which Jesus rode, but Matthew 21.2 does, and ‘a colt’ was unlikely to be anything else in Palestine. The ass was looked on by the Jews as a noble beast. When kings rode in peace they rode on an ass. Thus the prophecy, and our Lord Jesus’ action in riding on an ass, revealed that He came, not as a warrior on His war horse, but as the lowly Prince of Peace.
Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; 2 and He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. 3 And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it,’ and immediately he will send it here.”
We see from these verses that our Lord Jesus had made arrangements with friends, either in Bethany or in Bethphage, for an asses colt to be ready and had arranged a password (‘the Lord has need of him’) for its collection. It was quite normal in such outlying villages for asses to be available for hire. Or it may be that He was making use of the custom of ‘angaria’ under which a major religious figure was entitled to procure for himself the use of a means of transport for a period of time by a simple act of appropriation. ‘The Lord has need of them’ would then be seen as indicating this.
Many people miss the miracle that takes place here. Have you ever lived on a farm? Have you ever watched bull riding? Do you think that you can just saddle up a donkey or horse and just hop on? In all circumstances if you tried this you would be bucked off by the animal. Here this colt knew that its Creator was sitting on it and fully accepted Him.
Bethany is called the ‘House of Dates’ and our Lord had a date to keep. Bethphage means ‘The House of Figs’, The nation of Israel was sometimes likened to a fig tree and so our Messiah was arriving on the scene.
4 So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. 5 But some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, loosing the colt?” 6 And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go.
The two who had been sent found things just as the Master our Lord Jesus had described to them, and returned with the colt. Matthew tells us that its mother followed, as would be expected of an untried colt.
7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it.
The colt being brought the disciples put some of their clothing on its back to make the equivalent of a saddle or to provide a softer seat. It was a sign that they were joining in with whatever He was attempting to do. They clearly saw it as having some kind of symbolic significance. Then Jesus sat on the colt and it accepted His presence without any fight. As mentioned, Matthew tells us that its mother followed it, determined to keep her eye on her youngster, but Mark is less interested in the detail and more interested in the significance, for the future. Here was the portrayal of His kingship.
8 And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
This spreading of things before Him was the regular kind of treatment offered to important personages and was a spontaneous expression of appreciation and respect.
Have you ever wondered how the people would be proclaiming our Lord Jesus as the Messiah and than a few days later shout ‘Crucify Him’?
You see the significant thing here is that the crowd was not on the whole representing Him as the Messiah. They were using this entrance of One Whom they saw as a prophet as a means of expressing their acted out hopes. He was seen by them as prefiguring the future.
9 Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ 10 Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!”
As already mentioned the cries of the people are taken from Psalm 118 which were shouted each Passover. These words were extracts from a Psalm used at the Passover, and were regularly shouted out at visitors to Jerusalem at the Passover as they streamed into the city. Year after year the same had been done.
Passover was always a time of enthusiasm and fervor. And at such times there was always hope. Patriotic passions were aroused. And here it reached a deeper intensity because they saw our Lord Jesus as a great prophet, and many of them were disciples. But His entry on an ass helped to dampen Messianic expectations. We need to realize that the prophecy of Zechariah chapter 9 verse 9 was not a favorite Messianic passage, for the Jews did not look for a lowly king.
11 And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.
To our Great God Jesus it was a deliberate portrayal to Jerusalem and all who would see it, that He was the King of Peace promised in Zechariah. In a sense He was offering Himself to them as their true King, and especially to the leadership, but only if they were willing for their whole approach to God being purified, as He demonstrated by what He did in the Temple.
He, however, did not have any expectations of being accepted, for He knew perfectly well what was going to happen and was under no illusions about the condition of their hearts, as He has already made clear. He knew that His hour had come.. It was all part of His self revelation which to others would later mean more than it did then. He was deliberately and symbolically riding in as One Who would be rejected. Israel and its leaders must have its opportunity of recognition, but as He had been making clear to His disciples, He had no doubt as to what was to come. He knew that He was riding to His death, and all that would follow.
