This study © 1999 by David Humpal.

1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples.

Before embarking on his great Messianic mission, Jesus paused in Bethany. This may have been a time for him to spend time alone with his father, but more likely it was for the purpose of preparing the disciples and the people. As the word spread that Jesus was close to Jerusalem the people became excited with anticipation. They probably wondered if he would risk his life by showing himself in Jerusalem. I am sure that there was great discussion throughout the city of what all this meant.

It is interesting that Jesus stopped at Bethany which means "house of the poor or oppressed." The great majority of the crowd which would greet him would come from the poor and oppressed. And then Jesus sends his disciples to Bethphage which means "house of the unripe figs." The nation of Israel had not fully ripened yet. The plan of salvation would be fulfilled in Christ and all the Old Testament commandments would be fulfilled in Christ’s death on the cross.

Verse 1 tells us that there were two disciples who went to the village. We do not know for sure who they were. The term "disciples" sometimes referred to the twelve and at other times it referred to all of Christ’s followers. Whoever these two were, I’m sure they never forgot the lessons of obedience they were about to learn. It is easy to think these disciples were unimportant since they went unnamed. Perhaps you feel unimportant in God’s kingdom. If you do, just remember that Jesus could not enter the city of Jerusalem until two disciples were dispatched to find a donkey. These two disciples played a vital part in the fulfillment of scripture, and we play an important part in God’s kingdom no matter how unimportant we might think we are.

2 Saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here."
3 If anyone asks you, "Why are you doing this?" tell him, "The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly."

It may have been difficult for the disciples to undertake this task. The consequences for stealing someone’s donkey were serious. Although I’m sure they had faith in Jesus, there is no way they could be sure from their human perspective that the people might not question their intentions.

By being obedient, they were helping to fulfill Zechariah 9:9, "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Jesus would ride triumphantly into Jerusalem just as the prophets had foretold.

There may come a time when Christ asks you to do something which might seem strange or unusual. Will you be as willing to go as these two disciples?

4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it,
5 some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?"

If the disciples were unafraid up to this point, actually untying the donkey had to be a time of apprehension. They were probably thinking, "What will the people think?" I’m sure they had never done anything like this before. No matter how great their faith, they may have been struggling with their human emotions and doubts. Just at their lowest point, someone challenged them and asked, "What are you doing?" Perhaps these words caused them to became frozen with fear, or maybe they wanted to run away as fast as they could. If people thought they were stealing the donkey, they could suffer greatly.

Like these disciples, perhaps there have been times when you felt gripped by fear. Maybe you have been afraid of sharing your faith with others or of doing some ministry for God. Jesus asked his disciples to step out in faith. God is asking you to do the same thing. It may not be easy, but fear will cripple, faith will liberate.

6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.

Boldly, the two disciples spoke the words Jesus had given them. I know that if it had been my donkey, I would have wanted a very good explanation before I let them take my possession. Certainly God must have touched the hearts of these people. We don’t know if they ever understood why the donkey was going to be used. They may have only thought it was required by some important nobleman. The fact that the disciples told them they would return it, as Jesus instructed them to do in verse 3, might have been the deciding factor. They were willing to let their donkey be taken.

Sometimes God may ask us for something. It may be he wants to use one of our talents or our possessions for his kingdom. I wonder if we will be as willing to allow God to use us as the owners of the donkey were willing to allow the Lord to use their animal. What has God asked to use of yours? Have you told him yes?

7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it.

The colt had never been ridden before. Animals need to be broken before they can be ridden, and yet here Christ sits on the colt and it meekly cooperates. As MacDonald comments, "Though the colt had never been ridden before, it did not balk at carrying its Creator into Jerusalem." This is what makes the prophecy from Zechariah even more amazing - that someone could ride an unbroken donkey. The kind of person who could do this would have to be someone with special ability.

8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.

What these people were doing is what was normally done to welcome a triumphant king into their city as he returned from winning the battles. Jesus was entering the city as the conquering king who had subdued the spiritual enemies. Cloaks and garments were very precious and scarce in those days. Someone would not lightly throw it on the ground and allow animals and people to walk over it. But the people were willing to sacrifice to acknowledge Jesus as their Lord.

Jesus wants to make a triumphal entry into our hearts. He is asking - "What are you willing to sacrifice for me? What are you willing to lay down for me?" Serving God sometimes requires sacrifice and sometimes requires us to give things up. We may have to cast off some garments - selfishness, pride, evil desires. But let us be willing to do that to welcome the King of kings into our lives.

9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

The people could not contain themselves. They had to shout out their praises to God. They were excited and happy. We Christians are sometimes afraid to show our emotions to God. We will shout at a baseball game, we will give a standing ovation to the symphony, and we will laugh uproariously at the dinner theater, but when we enter into God’s presence, we act like we have entered the funeral home.

The people were excited about Jesus, and so they shouted their praises. If you are excited about Jesus, you may not be of a temperament to shout, but there are many ways we can show our praise to God. We can sing, we can talk to God out loud, we can express our joy, and not be afraid of expressing our emotions to God. We can share the excitement we have for God with others, and we can allow the joy to show on our faces!

In the parallel passage in Luke 19:39-40 we see the Pharisees asking Jesus to rebuke the disciples from this shouting. But Jesus responds to them, "I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." This was a time when the people needed to be overt in their praise. I wonder if sometimes God looks down at us from heaven and observes our timid displays of praise and worship and thinks he has heard more praise from the rocks in a river bed as the water is rushing over them. I don’t want a stone to take my place. Let us be willing to be excited about what God is doing in our life.

10 "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest!"

The promised Messiah would re-establish the kingdom of David and be a direct descendant of David. So the people are crying for political revolution as well as spiritual renewal. Jesus did not come the first time to bring political revolution. That will occur at his second coming. But Jesus came to bring a revolution in our hearts.

This idea of political deliverance may have been expressed by their use of the term "hosanna" which originally meant "save us." It later became an exclamation of praise. My thought is that there were many people crying out for a spiritual revival in Israel. And so they were genuinely praising Jesus as the new Lord of their lives. At any rate, "save us" is exactly what Jesus came to do. He arrived to bring salvation to all who would accept him as their Messiah, even us unworthy Gentiles.

In verses 9-10 the people cried out four different exclamations: Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David, and Hosanna in the highest. Each of these four expressions tells us something different about Jesus. Hosanna - Jesus came to save us . . . from our despair, from our confusion, from our sins. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord - Jesus came in the name of God, his mission was to fulfill the divine plan for humanity. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David - Jesus has come to set up a spiritual kingdom and will someday return to set up his earthly kingdom, this kingdom will never fail. Hosanna in the highest - For all that Jesus has done for us we need to praise him with our highest praise, our most heart-felt expressions, and our greatest love.

11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

God’s dwelling place symbolically resided in the temple. After Jesus enters as the King of kings into Jerusalem, he goes to his rightful destination. As he enters the house built to honor God, he looks around and sees corruption, faithlessness, and betrayal. The Messiah had come to his temple and found that the temple had been polluted. Instead of setting up his kingdom in the temple that had forsaken God, he chose instead to set up his temple in the hearts of believers. Some day Jesus will return to Jerusalem to take his rightful place. But for now, he has turned away from the Jerusalem temple and gone out to make his dwelling place with the Jews and Gentiles who will allow him to be their Lord and their God.

MacDonald remarks, "Once in Jerusalem, Jesus went into the temple - not inside the sanctuary but into the temple courts. Presumably it was the house of God, but He was not at home in this temple because the priests and people refused to give Him his rightful place."

Christ’s new temple is in the hearts of believers and to a lesser extent in the places where believers gather - our churches. As Jesus examined the Jerusalem temple 2000 years ago, Jesus is inspecting our temple. He looks round about our churches, and he examines our hearts. What does he see? Have we made a proper dwelling place for Christ? Or are there things we need to clean out of our lives or take out of our churches? Jesus wants to make his abode with us. Do we welcome him, or do we chase him away?

This study on Mark 1:1-11 © 1999 by David Humpal, all rights reserved.
All scriptures unless otherwise noted are from the New International Version © 1971, Zondervan Bible Publishers

MacDonald: Believer’s Bible Commentary, New Testament volume, pg. 165 © 1990, Thomas Nelson Publishers

Luke 19:40 from the King James Version

MacDonald: Believer’s Bible Commentary, New Testament volume, pg. 166 © 1990, Thomas Nelson Publishers