Daily Dose of Hope
April 29, 2025
Day 2 of Week 5
Scripture – Mark 11:1-11
Prayer: Holy and Almighty God, We come to you today in humility but also with expectancy. We need to hear a word from you. We need to sense your presence and be reminded of how you walk alongside us. In these next few moments of silence, help us settle our mind and gather our scattered thoughts, focusing on you and you alone...In Your Name, Amen.
Welcome to the Daily Dose of Hope, a Deep Dive into the Gospels and Acts. Today, we begin Mark 11. This is what we call Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and it is typically referred to as the Palm Sunday passage.
As a little girl going to Sunday School, I can remember making palm branches and waving them on Palm Sunday. Jesus’ triumphal entry was described kind of like a parade. Think about parades with their marching bands, large balloons, and dancers. They are often about celebration and national pride. But Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem this wasn’t that kind of parade, especially as the book of Mark describes it.
The disciples have been on a journey toward Jerusalem and they are almost there. They have come to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives. Jesus tells two of the disciples to go on ahead and fetch a colt that has never been ridden. He tells them exactly where to find the colt and what to say if anyone questions them. Jesus may have known the owner of the colt and set it up ahead of time or he may not have. We know that Jesus is also God, all-powerful and omniscient, so how this happened exactly, we don’t know. Regardless, they get the colt, put their cloaks on the animal, and Jesus rides on it as he enters the city. Others spread branches on the road. Others run ahead and shout, “Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming of our father David.”
What’s interesting here to me is all the themes of royalty we see in this short passage. Some of us may think it’s strange that Jesus rode on a donkey rather than a horse but at the time, horses were only used for battle, specifically for warfare. In the Old Testament, new kings would come riding in on the donkey or mule of the previous king. We see this in 1 Kings 1 when King David puts his son Solomon on his own mule, the trumpet is sounded, and the people rejoice and shout. Then, the priest and the prophet Nathan anoint him as king of Israel. The mule is like the presidential limo, a sign of power and prestige that says this is the new leader.
What is different in this case is that Mark specifically states that Jesus is not riding on a previous king’s colt or donkey. He is riding on a colt that has never been ridden before. This is a sign that God is doing a new thing. Jesus is king but a different kind of king.
Then, we see Jesus being given a royal welcome. The people are laying cloaks and branches down for him. They are running ahead in the streets to give him this royal kind of treatment. This is the kind of welcome that the emperor or a high official of the Roman government would have received. Think of it kind of like the red carpet being rolled out---a sign that a very important leader, the new king, has arrived.
For the Jews in the crowd, they would have also known that this a fulfillment of prophecy. Zechariah 9:9, Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. All the signs point to the fact that Jesus is the king!
But there is more. We see them running ahead and shouting, “Hosanna in the highest, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” The word hosanna means “pray, save us.” The people in the crowd are expressing that this is the messiah, this is the anointed one, the one they had been waiting for that God had sent to save them. These words are based on Psalm 118:22-26, The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The LORD has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. LORD, save us! LORD, grant us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you. Then they say “blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David.” Surely, this is the messiah who has come to sit on the throne of David, just as God promised 600 years before. You see, it’s all coming together for them. Thus, there is joy and celebration. God has sent King Jesus to save his people.
But the enthusiasm is short-lived. Jesus makes it to the city gates and goes into Jerusalem. He looks around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. And just like that, the celebration is over. The people have moved on.
Of course, we know that people are fickle. They get distracted and disillusioned fairly quickly. We get distracted and disillusioned fairly quickly. While there is something clearly royal about Jesus, he is the promised figure, but not in a way they expected or wanted. They think Messiah has entered the royal city to stage a royal takeover, to save them from the Romans. And we know what happens...he has actually entered to royal city to suffer and die. Yes, Jesus is Messiah. He is Savior. But he wasn’t a military leader on the way to stage a coup. He was actually God himself who had come to save us in a much more fundamental way, to be the final sacrifice for sin so that we could be reconciled to holy God and live life abundantly. No more barriers, no more veil of separation.
Jesus, Messiah, certainly could have overthrown the Romans and reinstituted Israel as they desired it, as it was in the days of King David. But Jesus’ mission wasn’t just to save the Jews, but rather to usher in the Kingdom of God, in which all people for all time could be part of God’s greater work in the world and have a relationship with a God who loves them, adores them, and calls them to something bigger and more important, more eternal. Jesus was king, they were right, he just wasn’t the king they expected.
How often has Jesus not been the king we expected? We think, if that were us, we would celebrate and praise Jesus for who he is – King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But do we do that now? What are your expectations of Jesus? How do we respond when Jesus does not meet our own expectations?
How often have we expected Jesus to ensure us that nothing bad will happen? If only we believe and are faithful, then my loved ones will be protected and I won’t get sick, my marriage will be secure, my job will be stable.
How often have we expected that if we follow Jesus with enough fervor, then he will give us the material desires of our heart?
How often have we thought that if we follow Jesus and have enough faith, then we will be protected from loneliness, depression, anxiety, or other kinds of internal torment?
How often have we relied on Jesus as counselor or self-help guru rather than Lord of our lives?
How often have we wanted Jesus to simply be wise teacher and not Lord of our lives? How often have we wanted him to be provider and sustainer but not really Lord of all?
As Eugene Peterson (who put together the Message translation of the Bible) wrote, “Jesus does not always meet our expectations, does not always give what we ask for or what we think we need. When he doesn’t, we feel let down, deflated, disappointed, or we surf to another channel on the TV, or we try out another church that will, hopefully, give us what we ask for.”
We will chat some more tomorrow.
Blessings,
Pastor Vicki
