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SCRIPTURE READING

See Mark 11:1-10

Mark 11:1–10 NASB95

As they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. “If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here.” They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it. Some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it. And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: “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!”

INTRODUCTION

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise him for another day and another chance to worship and talk about “Our Compelling Christ”. He is compelling today because he can use anything. That’s what makes me happy today, knowing that if he can use anything he can use me. When we think about all that needs to be done for the kingdom, doesn’t it make you want to say “use me Lord”? The truth is that we all have a part to play; it may not be the leading role, but is there anybody in the room that is willing to play the background and say “If you can use anything Lord, use me.”

Take a spiritual flight with me this afternoon and let’s go back to the day that Jesus of Nazareth came riding into Jerusalem. It was a day to be remembered (although it is one that was too quickly forgotten), that day when the King entered into His city. He came in meek and lowly, not riding on a royal steed, but on a beast of burden. How unlikely it would be for a King to choose a colt over a steed, but he did. He was the King of kings, and yet he did not ride triumphantly into Jerusalem on a stallion, but he choose to use a donkey’s colt.

Mark has been building his case that Jesus is more than just a charismatic personality with unusual powers. His contention is that He is indeed the Son of God. This fact would have been important to his readers because of the strong claims that were made by Jesus. Most specifically, His claim that He is “the way, the truth, and the life (2:10-11).

Mark's message is clear, it is Jesus who is standing Center Stage in the drama unfolding here before us today. The attention, the concentration, and the focus is all on Him and everything else is in the background. The background is the general scene or surface against which designs, patterns, or figures are represented or viewed; it is a position or area of relative inconspicuousness or unimportance.

CENTRAL IDEA

The text is tailored to teach us today, that the leading role belongs to Jesus but we should willing to be used in the background like the disciples, the villagers, and a sanctified colt.

THE DISCIPLES

As we open up the text at chapter 11, we discover that Jesus and his disciples are nearing Jerusalem when they arrive at Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives. It is here where Jesus sent two of his disciples on a mission. He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it, and bring it here”. Along with those instructions he added, “if anyone says to you, why are you doing this? You say, The Lord has need of it.”

Do you know what I like about these disciples? I like that they do what Jesus tells them to do. The text tells us that the disciples arrived at their destination, located their target, and carried out their directive. They did what Jesus told them to do! They did not simply give “lip service”. Do you all know what lip service is? It is when what you say ain’t really what you mean.” Jesus told this story to the Pharisees and the religious leaders one day:

But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’’; but afterward he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?

The disciples didn’t just say Yes Lord; but, they did as the Lord had commanded them.

That’s what needs to be done by His disciples today. We have got to do what He says! We cannot just hear it and acknowledge it; but, we must observe to do it. They did what was commanded of them and they went into “The Village”.

THE VILLAGE PEOPLE

Whenever we discuss the subject of a Village, we must concern ourselves with “The Villagers”. What do we know about this village and the people of the village? One thing that we can see right away is that this village had a purpose. When the disciples arrived at the Village, some villagers saw them untying the colt and detained them with the question “why are you untying the colt?” The text tells us that Jesus knew where the village was and he knew the villagers.

Let me park here parenthetically for a moment to make this plea to “The Village” and “The Villagers” this afternoon. Let’s make it our business to know His will; He wants us to know it! One sure way of finding it out (His will) is through prayer. We must continue to cry out with the songwriter: Teach me to pray Lord, teach me to pray. This is my heart cry day unto day; I long to know thy will and thy way. Teach me to pray Lord, teach me to pray (Don’t you want to know his ways?). When the disciples did and said what Jesus told them to do, the villagers released the colt. They seemed to realize that they were just supporting cast in what the Lord was doing and that Jesus was the main character.

THE “SANCTIFIED” COLT

As we survey the background of this text, we also see a colt. It was because of the colt that Jesus sent the disciples to the Village. He said to them, “as soon as you get into the village you will see a colt tied.” The colt was special, in that, it had been consecrated and sanctified for a specific duty. It was a peculiar part, the colt would play; it would be the means of transporting the King into Jerusalem.

Pause here with me a little while and notice that it was Jesus who sent the disciples to a deliberately designated destination to take possession of a colt that had never been ridden. Jesus wanted to use the colt to make his way into Jerusalem. It could not have taken place any other way, because according to Zechariah 9:9 it had to happen: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your King is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted upon a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

And now, after 500 years of waiting, the day arrived when the Great One came riding into Jerusalem on a sanctified colt. The Lord had been arranging the circumstances so that He could fulfill his Word. And that is really all the part that the disciples, the villagers, and the colt played in the narrative; they were being used by him.

CONCLUSION

Look at this colt with me today, it has the blessed privilege and pleasure to have the Lord Jesus riding on its back. But can you imagine this colt thinking that the procession was about and for him? Can you see him trying to get the attention, the adoration, and praise, thinking that the psalms and the garments in the road was was for him? Can you imagine this colt thinking and believing that the people were singing, shouting, and celebrating because of him? That would be insane; so it is, when those who are suppose to play the background try to take the leading role.