The King is Coming Mark 11:1-11

-Jesus enters Jerusalem as a King

John Kass, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune, recently wrote about a waiter named Bouch who works at a tavern in Chicago.

Bouch decided to write to the King of his homeland, Morocco. The King, Mohammed VI, is immensely popular because he often interacts with his subjects in public. He has freed political prisoners, and he helps the poor and disabled. When Bouch wrote to him from Chicago, King Mohammed VI, true to nature, wrote back.

"Look at the letters," said Bouch. "These are letters from the King. If I meet him, I’ll be so happy." John Kass, the columnist, muses, "How many guys hauling beer and burgers in a Chicago tavern have a correspondence going with a royal monarch?" The columnist talked to Morocco’s deputy counsel general in Chicago and was told that it isn’t unusual for the King to write personal letters to his subjects abroad. "It happens a lot," the official said. "He loves his subjects."

You think King Mohammed VI loves his subjects? You ought to meet Jesus, the King of Kings, and read his precious letters to you.

I. A King’s Ride vv. 1-2

When we pick up our passage, Jesus has made the final turn and is ready to enter Jerusalem

Jesus will use Bethany, a village about 2 miles from Jerusalem, as kind of a staging area for His final acts of ministry in the city

He will not spend the nights in Jerusalem, but will come and go each day.

His friends, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha live here so it is a comfortable and a familiar place

Jesus will give His disciples instructions, including a kind of strange one:

They are to go and find an animal for Jesus to ride into the city

This ought to pique our attention, because we don’t really see Jesus riding very often. He is either on foot or in a boat

The choice of animal seems unlikely

He asks for a young colt, but specifically, a donkey colt

In some ways, this seems unwieldy and awkward, but it is at least a picture of humility

However, it also sends us backwards and tells us something about who Jesus is!

He is a Son of Jair like Judges 10:4

He is the King who weeps as He returns to Jerusalem, even as David wept in leaving Jerusalem 2 Samuel 15-16

He is the coming King of Zechariah 9:9-10

Everything that Jesus does is sending a powerful signal!

Zechariah 9:9–10

[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.

[10] I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

and the war horse from Jerusalem;

and the battle bow shall be cut off,

and he shall speak peace to the nations;

his rule shall be from sea to sea,

and from the River to the ends of the earth. (ESV)

II. A King’s Authority vv. 3-6

Next, we see Jesus make a big demand. He tells the disciples to just go and get the animal

The only explanation will be that “the Lord needs it”

How can Jesus have this kind of expectation of obedience? Because He is the King

Jesus is coming to us with authority, to rule and to command us

There is nothing He can claim over us that He does not have rights over

If His words are the words of the Lord, they are necessarily a matter of obedience/disobedience

This is not a conversation amongst equals, but a call to obey and to participate in the mission of God

We see the owner respond in obedience to Jesus and that must be our heart also

How do you view the authority of Christ in your life?

Is He an advisor?

Is He a helper?

Is He King?

The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott Christians Are Subjects of an Everlasting Kingdom

When Her Majesty the Queen visited Australia in October 1973 for the opening of the Sydney Opera House, she attended a service in St. Andrew’s Cathedral at which Archbishop Marcus Loane preached. He began by affirming the loyalty and affection of Australians to the queen, and the ties which bind Australia to England and the Commonwealth, but continued: “The inmost significance of a Service like this is to remind ourselves that there is another Sovereign to whom we owe obedience and another Kingdom to which we ought to belong.” Christians “are subjects of an everlasting kingdom which cannot be shaken,” pilgrims traveling to the eternal city: “And the central Figure in that city will be Jesus the Lord, whose Deity and Dominion will then be owned by all.”

III. A King’s Entrance vv. 7-10

Jesus has prepared to enter as a King and the message is not lost on the crowd that day: they prepare an appropriate welcome for Him

They spread their cloaks on the road for Him to pass over

They wave palm branches at Him, in a show of adoration

However, their words identify Him as King:

He is our Savior: (Hosanna!=Save Us)

He is blessed by the people

He comes in the name of the Lord; He is the Lord’s chosen servant/Messiah

He is a King from David’s line

Everything that God has been promising since the Old Testament is going to be fulfilled in Jesus; however, this is going to be shockingly different than what they have been expecting

Rather than a king to defeat Rome, He is a king who will defeat sin and death

Rather than a king with an earthly kingdom, His will be heavenly

Rather than conquering through physical victory, He will conquer through physical death

He will save through sacrifice!

IV. A King’s Time v. 11

Jesus comes as a judge into Jerusalem, discerning the situation in the Temple

This will be critical in next week’s passage

Finding no true worship, Jesus will cleanse the Temple

Jesus knows the hour and it is late

Physically, the time has come to leave the city and return to Bethany

Spiritually, the time for judgment has come to Jerusalem

Jesus has a mission to fulfill: God’s judgment is going to fall on Him!

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching A Living Sacrifice

Clark Vandersall Poling was a classmate of mine at Yale Divinity School. In due time he became a chaplain in the army. On a dark February night—the third to be exact—1943, the cargo transport Dorchester, carrying 904 men, was torpedoed at 1:15 AM and sank in iceberg-infested waters within twenty-five minutes. The ship was within ninety miles of her Greenland destination. Six hundred and seventy-eight men were reported “lost in action.” According to the quartermaster Frank A. Benkler’s affidavit, there were four chaplains aboard, including Clark—Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant. Without regard for personal safety, each chaplain unfastened his life jacket and gave it away. The courageous men were last seen standing hand in hand, praying for the safety of their men.