What King Do You Serve?

Mark 11:1-11

Mark 11:1–11 (ESV)

1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples 2 and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’ ” 4 And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. 5 And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. 7 And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 8 And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. 9 And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

11 And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

As I was reading and researching these verses, the Lord brought to my attention on how we expect to him to show Himself in mightiest of ways, and we miss the little things in which makes Himself known to us. In these verses, we all focus on the celebration, are so fixated on the lying down of cloaks and leafy branches, that we forget the entire picture. Not that it is not of great importance in Mark’s Gospel, but the Lord is showing us much, much more. One question kept coming to mind; I began to question, what is the significance of the donkey in all of this? The more I read, reread, researched articles, commentaries, and other sermons on Palm Sunday, the Lord began to reveal its importance in this story.

In these 11 verses what king to we find....

A King of Peace: First, Jesus used this donkey to reveal Himself as the King of Peace. The Roman generals and emperors would ride into the city in a triumphant processional. They would have large animals and beasts as part of it, along with marching soldiers and all kinds of weaponry. all to display a sense of power, might, and wealth. At times they would have prisoners of war march in chains to be used for entertainment later that evening in the arena as they would be fed to lions, tortured, and executed. The victorious king or general would be riding a beautiful stallion, and both he and the horse would be decked in kingly clothing. But our Lord came riding on a donkey, and entered Jerusalem in most humble way. You see, when a ruler came into a city or town on a donkey it was thought of as a display of peace. Jesus came to reconcile us to God, and by our Lord riding on a young donkey was indicative to His Kingdom being one of peace between us and God. As followers of Christ, we represent our Peaceful King, and we are called to live in peace with others.

A King of Prophecy: Jesus riding in on a young donkey was the divine fulfillment of prophecy. Mark quotes Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” For the ones who had eyes to see and ears to hear, Christ was fulfilling Old Testament prophecy, proving that He indeed was the long-awaited Messiah of His people. Being the prophetic king, Jesus knew where the donkey would be tied, and that someone would asked the disciples what they were doing, just as Jesus knows everything about us, but we still think that we can hide our sin. Jesus was the king that they waiting for, and the king we can’t wait to return in his glory.

3. A King Who Serves: Again the use of the donkey is of great importance, revealing that Jesus was a King who came to serve. We see examples of this in Judges 10:4 and 12:14. In addition, donkeys were widely used as work animals. Matthew 21:5 refers to the donkey as a “beast of burden.” Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Jesus was telling people He had come to serve; he says earlier in Mark 10:45 “45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

As followers of Jesus, we are his hands and feet on earth, and he has given us spiritual gifts to serve Him by serving others. We must use them well to be a blessing to the world. God doesn’t want us to sit through life, he wants us to serve through life.

4. A King Who Saves: Jesus used this donkey to reveal Himself as a saving King. The tied up donkey was untied and released to the Lord. Jesus knows exacted where we are tied up; he knows what we are in bondage to. The donkey was released. Jesus tells His disciples to untie it. Jesus came to untie us from sin, death, hell and the grave. After the donkey was untied, it says, they brought the colt to Jesus. Jesus redeems us from captivity and gives us our true purpose. Jesus told the disciples to say, The Lord needs it, and then when the brought the donkey to Him, he sat on it, and we are told that “on which no one has ever sat.” See the donkey was wild in nature, but quickly surrendered to the authority of Jesus. We need to surrender our own wild nature to the authority of our King, to serve His purpose. Jesus is the only one who can save us.

During this Passion Week, let’s be thankful for our peaceful, prophetic, serving, and saving Lord, let us pray.