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Jesus’ Triumphant Entry
11 As Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. 2 “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks, ‘What are you doing?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it and will return it soon.’”
4 The two disciples left and found the colt standing in the street, tied outside the front door. 5 As they were untying it, some bystanders demanded, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 They said what Jesus had told them to say, and they were permitted to take it. 7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it, and he sat on it.
8 Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting,
“Praise God!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
10 Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David!
Praise God in highest heaven!”11 So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After looking around carefully at everything, he left because it was late in the afternoon. Then he returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples. – Mark 11:1-11
The crowds in Jerusalem turned out to welcome Jesus as their king on that first Palm Sunday because many of them were expecting him to free them from the oppression of the Romans. But, they had the wrong kind of expectations about this king. So, a week later, they were ready to turn against him and see him executed.
Weeks before Jesus had started trying to change his disciples’ expectations. They had come to realise that he was the Messiah.
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Peter’s Declaration about Jesus
27 Jesus and his disciples left Galilee and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”
28 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one of the other prophets.”
29 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
Peter replied, “You are the Messiah.”
30 But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. – Mark 8:27-30
He was indeed their longed-for king who would set his people free. They had witnessed his many miracles and healings, heard his teaching, and seen the multitudes flocking to him. So Peter boldly speaks on behalf of them all and declares their belief in Jesus as the Messiah.
It is from this point on in Mark’s gospel that Jesus repeatedly tries to prepare his disciples for the fact that he is going to suffer, and be killed but rise again. This is not part of their expectations and they don’t like it!
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Jesus Predicts His Death
31 Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. 32 As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.
33 Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” – Mark 8:31-33
What the disciples needed to understand was the other side of Jesus’ mission. Yes, he is a king, but he was also to be the “suffering servant” that the prophet Isaiah spoke about (see Isaiah chapter 53).
Perhaps the disciples are like the blind man in the previous verses (see Mark 8:22-26) who at first could only “half” see until Jesus touched him again. Here the disciples were only half-seeing God’s purposes and they needed more revelation to see clearly all that God would accomplish through Jesus as he lived, died, and rose again.
Ask Yourself
- What are your expectations of what God will do in our time?
- How will he answer our prayers for him to work in our country, our world, our church, and in our own lives?
- Are you prepared for God to do something unexpected and perhaps uncomfortable?
- Are you willing to let go of your expectations if God does something entirely different?
- The disciples weren’t prepared for what was coming and didn’t want to hear it. Are you ready to listen to whatever God may say?
