Mark 11:1-11
“Salvation on Whose Terms?”
By: Rev. Kenneth Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
www.parkview-umc.org
It was the Passover time, and Jerusalem and the whole countryside were crowded with people who had made their way to the greatest of the Jewish National Feasts.
It has been estimated that more than 2 million 5 hundred thousand people had crowded their way into Jerusalem.
And we are told that Jesus entered this bustling city on a colt that no one had ever ridden.
And as He did so, many of the people spread their cloaks out on the road…sort of like rolling out the red carpet…while others spread branches on the road.
And all the folks, the ones who ran ahead of Jesus and the people who followed Jesus shouted: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!
Hosanna in the highest!”
What were they asking for?
What did this mean?
What did they want and expect?
We can get an idea by taking a look at the word: “Hosanna.”
This is a word that we often misunderstand.
To our ears it may sound like a praise or a blessing.
In all actuality, the word “Hosanna” is a plea.
It means: “Save now!”
And “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”…well “the one who comes” is another name for “the Messiah.”
And “Hosanna in the highest!” means “Let even the angels in the highest heights of heaven cry to God, save now!”
So as Jesus rode into busy Jerusalem at Passover time, on a colt that had never been ridden before,
“Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, ‘Save us now! Blessed is the Messiah! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Save us now!’”
They were pleading with Jesus for salvation—“Save us now!”
They were calling Him the Messiah!
But what kind of salvation did they want and what kind of Messiah did they think Jesus was?
The Jews had been under Roman occupation for quiet some time.
They were oppressed by the Romans.
They had to pay taxes to the Romans.
They wanted to be freed from Roman rule, and they expected that the Messiah was going to save them from Rome.
So, “Save us now,” means “save us now from the Roman military occupation!”
“We want to be great and strong again! We want to rule like we did when David was King!”
In essence, the people wanted another King David!
And they thought Jesus was the one who was going to fill that role.
Jesus would stand up to Rome.
Jesus would overthrow Rome militarily.
Jesus would make Israel a great ruling nation once again!!!
Jesus would conquer all of their foes!
The people were looking for a King, a Messiah, a Jesus who would shatter, smash, kill, break and conquer!!!
They were looking for Jesus to bring in the Kingdom of God by military force!!!
“Save us now!,” they cried.
“Save us now, blessed Messiah!”
And certainly, salvation for the people was exactly what Jesus had in mind, but it was salvation on God’s terms, not on the people’s terms.
Jesus’ salvation contradicted everything that the people had hoped for and expected.
Imagine how wronged they must have felt when…just a few days later…they saw Him arrested and on trial…
… “Some King!”
… “Some Savior!”
… “Some Messiah!”
… “Crucify Him!”
As Jesus hung from the Cross, a bloody mess of a man…
…the written notice that hung above His head read: “THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
And “Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying…come down from the cross and save yourself.”
We are told in the Gospel of Mark that “In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law mocked him among themselves. ‘He saved others…but he can’t save himself. Let this King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.’”
Certainly, Jesus could have come down from the Cross, but that is not why He came.
Certainly, if He had wanted to, Jesus could have been the conquering Messiah…
…but that was not His mission.
Certainly Jesus could have saved the people on those terms, but that was not God’s plan!
The people wanted Jesus to save them, but they wanted Jesus to save them in the way that they thought they ought to be saved!
They simply did not understand what God had in mind.
Do we?
There is a song by a rock band named Jethro Tull in which the singer bellows: “If Jesus saves, why didn’t he save himself?….and then, mockingly, the chorus comes in “Jesus save me!”
What does it mean to be saved by Jesus?
Does it mean that we become conquering heroes?
Does it mean that we become the next “American Idol?”
Does it mean that we become powerful, in the worldly sense?
Does it mean that we become rich?
Does it mean that life is no longer difficult?
Does it mean any of that?
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, it was obviously impossible for Him to speak to the crowd.
So, instead, He did something that all could see; He came riding upon a donkey’s colt.
This was a deliberate claim by Jesus that He was, indeed, the Messiah.
It was a dramatic enactment of the words of Zechariah the prophet from Zechariah Chapter 9: “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
Righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey…He will proclaim peace to the nations.”
There is no doubt that Jesus’ claim was a messianic claim, but Jesus was claiming to be a certain kind of Messiah.
In Jesus’ day, a king came riding on a horse when he was getting ready for war and conquest, and he came riding on a donkey when he was coming in peace.
So, Jesus was telling the crowds what kind of Messiah He was to be by the fact that He was riding on the colt of a donkey.
He was not the warrior figure that the people dreamed of, but instead, He was the Prince of Peace!
No one saw it that way at the time, not even the disciples.
No one understood what Jesus meant.
Do we?
“If Jesus saves, why didn’t he save himself?”
Jesus did not save Himself, because Jesus did not need to be saved!
We did and we do!!!
Jesus did not come down off of that Cross because Jesus came to save us, not Himself!!!
Jesus did not come to conquer and rule by force, and He certainly did not come to set up some kind of Messianic Kingdom right here and right now on this earth…
…at least not in the material sense.
Jesus’ Kingdom is spiritual.
And those who know Jesus…
…those who are saved by Jesus…
…those who worship Jesus…
…worship Him in spirit and in truth!
Jesus’ kingdom is a spiritual kingdom.
Jesus’ salvation is a spiritual salvation.
Jesus comes and conquers the hearts of people…
…and He only does this in a peaceful and loving manner…
…when people who believe in Him and want to be saved, through free-will, invite Him to come into their hearts, into their minds, into their lives as Savior and Lord.
Have you invited Jesus to come into your heart and your mind and your life as your Savior and Lord?
When we ask Jesus to come into our hearts as Savior and Lord something miraculous happens.
We begin to change…on the inside.
We begin to see things the way God sees things, and we begin to value what God values…
…service, love, patience, peace, and so much more!
And as Jesus becomes our Savior…we find that we are not necessarily saved from many of the heartaches that come in this world.
If we are in a certain situation financially, or physically, or whatever…these kinds of situations are probably not going to change.
What will change will be our ability to cope with the difficulties of this life.
Jesus has come to bring us peace…but this does not mean that we will not be surrounded by wars and rumors of wars and so forth.
What this does mean is that we will be able to face what comes our way with a “peace which transcends all understanding.”
Jesus saves. And Jesus is the only one Who does save!
But Jesus saves in the way that Jesus saves, not in the way we might want Jesus to save!!!
Therefore, just as Jesus came riding into Jerusalem, humble on a donkey…
…we are to humble ourselves before God and before one another.
And just as Jesus rode into Jerusalem as the One Who has come to bring peace…
…we must desire peace…
…not conquest…
…not competition…
…not power…
…but peace.
Because salvation on God’s terms has absolutely nothing to do with military victory, financial gain, selfish desires, or worldly fame.
Salvation on God’s terms is being saved from that stuff altogether.
Salvation on God’s terms is the exact opposite of what our natural selves desire.
“Whoever wants to save his or her life will lose it, but whoever loses his or her life for me will find it,” Jesus tells us in Matthew Chapter 16.
Salvation on God’s terms means giving God our very lives…our very natures…our very own selfish desires…
…it means handing ourselves completely over to God…
…and trusting God to take control…
…to change us…
…to guide us…
…to direct us…
…to use us…
…so that we can love God and others and be freed from the chains of selfish desires.
And when that happens…
…we begin living…
…really living…
…for the very first time!!!
If you have not done so already, are you willing to cry out to Jesus on this Palm Sunday saying: “Hosanna, Jesus save me now!”?
