by Tom Wacaster
In
the closing days of our Lord’s earthly ministry, more specifically the
beginning of what is commonly referred to as ‘The Passion Week,’ the
Lord increasingly foretold of His arrest, trial, and inevitable death
and resurrection. I was studying Mark’s account of our Lord’s triumphal
entry and gleaned some wonderful lessons from God’s word. The precise
passage to which I refer is Mark 11:1-10, which reads thus: “And when
they draw nigh unto Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount
of Olives, he sendeth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go your
way into the village that is over against you: and straightway as ye
enter into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon no man ever yet sat;
loose him, and bring him. And if any one say unto you, Why do ye this?
say ye, The Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him back
hither. And they went away, and found a colt tied at the door without
in the open street; and they loose him. And certain of them that stood
there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt? And they said unto
them even as Jesus had said: and they let them go. And they bring the
colt unto Jesus, and cast on him their garments; and he sat upon him.
And many spread their garments upon the way; and others branches, which
they had cut from the fields. And they that went before, and they that
followed, cried, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the
Lord: Blessed is the kingdom that cometh, the kingdom of our father
David: Hosanna in the highest” (Mark 11:1-10, ASV).
It
was Sunday morning of the ‘Passion Week.’ The Lord was about to make
His last entrance into the city of Jerusalem. He was fully aware of the
hostility that awaited Him, particularly among those who were of the
elite religious hierarchy. Our Lord never lost sight of His mission,
and His ultimate death upon the cross for the sins of mankind. Keep
that in mind every time you study the events of the ‘Passion Week.’
Jesus could easily have fled from those who sought His life. Even up
to, and through the last night with His disciples, there was ample time
for Him to escape the fate that awaited Him. But He did not flee;
instead He set His face steadfastly toward the city, and to His
sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Bethphage
and Bethany were twin cities that lay just beyond the Mount of Olives
almost due east of Jerusalem. The names of the cities mean “the place
of figs” and “the place of dates” respectively. Little did the
inhabitants of those cities realize the role they would play during the
last days of our Lord. What would happen on this particular day would
be a dramatic demonstration of what the Lord had been teaching for more
than three years. Out of these two cities, and in accord with the words
of Zechariah: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter
of Jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh unto thee; he is just, and having
salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of
an ass” (Zech. 9:9). What Israel had failed to grasp by the Lord’s
teachings would now be presented to them in dramatic fashion. Precisely
as Zechariah prophesied, the Lord would come riding into Jerusalem on a
“colt the foal of an ass.” There are some significant lessons that we
can glean from the record of our Lord’s triumphal entry into the city
of Jerusalem.
First,
what transpired within a relatively short period of time was precisely
as the Lord had predicted. No human could have possibly predicted,
with such accuracy, some of the little details that unfolded on that
Sunday morning. “Ye shall find a colt.” But it was not just any colt;
it would be one “whereon no man ever yet sat.” Animals which had never
been used before were admissible for sacred purposes. In Numbers 19:2
we read of the sacrifice of "the heifer on which never came a yoke."
The colt was “tied,” precisely as the Lord predicted. When the
disciples attempted to take the colt, they would be confronted by the
owner; again according to the Lord’s instructions. The Lord’s detailed
predictions give proof to His ability to behold things that were out of
His sight. Of course He had demonstrated this ability on at least two
other occasions. The first was when He told Nathanael, “When thou wast
under the fig tree, I saw thee” (John 1:48). That was enough to
convince Nathanael and that Israelite “in whom is no guile” proclaimed,
“Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel” (John
2:49). The second was the miraculous catch of the fish with the shekel
in its mouth, where the Lord told Peter, “Go thou to the sea, and cast a
hook, and take up the fish that cometh up; and when thou hast opened
his mouth, thou shalt find a shekel: that take and give unto them for me
and thee” (Matt. 17:27). Such detailed predictions, all of which came
to pass even as the Lord said, are abundant proof of our Lord’s deity.
Second,
the manner and occasion of our Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem on that
particular day is significant. For more than three years the Lord had
gone about on foot, traveling the width and breadth of Palestine in this
way, all in an attempt to teach the people that He was, indeed, the
King of Israel, the Messiah and heir to the throne of David. He did not
lead an army, He did not pick up arms, and He did not incite a riot or
open rebellion. He was not surrounded by pomp and circumstance. He was
not bearing a sword or any such instrument of bloodshed. Instead,
there were palm branches and garments spread along His path—evidence of
devotion and respect. He did not ride into Jerusalem on a white
stallion, a symbol of earthly power and prestige. Instead, He came
riding on an ass’s colt in order that He might show that His kingdom was
of another kind; that it was spiritual, not earthly. On this occasion,
He assumed a humble demeanor, His only belonging being the clothes He
wore. Yet in it all there was great dignity; even royalty. The ass of
the East was considered a superior animal. Judges and princes often
rode upon white asses, and their sons upon asses colts. As one author
noted: “He came in gentleness, not that he might be feared on account of
his power, but that he might be loved on account of his goodness.”
Third,
we learn that our Lord never placed importance upon physical things; in
fact, He deprived Himself of all those things that are typically
associated with success. Mark tells us that the disciples, when asked
about who it was that was requesting the colt, were to tell the owner,
“The Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him back”
(verse 3). The Lord only borrowed the colt. In a previous article some
time back I pointed out that our Lord never owned any property, never
built a house, never laid by in store, never had a passbook savings
account, never organized a "garage sale," and never placed an ounce of
importance on what one might possess in this life. When His life was
finished and His course completed, the only thing He could call His own
was stripped from His sinless body and gambled away at the foot of the
cross by the Roman soldiers while their Master and Creator hung on the
cross close by. He depended upon others to be used as tools in the
Father's hand to minister to His need. From the cradle to the grave,
never did a man live in such poverty, deprive himself of the things of
this world, or depend upon others for his physical well being, as did
Jesus of Nazareth. Though He may have borrowed those things He needed
from time to time, those who were gracious to "loan" unto Him what they
possessed soon learned that their "investment" returned mighty dividends
that could not be measured in monetary value. The poet’s words still
ring crystal clear:
They borrowed a bed to lay his head
When Christ the Lord came down;
They borrowed the ass in the mountain pass
For him to ride to town;
But the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore
Were his own - the cross was his own!
He borrowed the bread when the crowd He fed
On the grassy mountainside;
He borrowed the dish of broken fish
With which he was satisfied;
But the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore
Were his own - the cross was his own!
He borrowed the ship in which to sit
To teach the multitude;
He borrowed a nest in which to rest -
He had never a home so rude;
But the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore
Were his own - the cross was his own!
He borrowed a room on his way to the tomb
The Passover Lamb to eat;
They borrowed a cave for him a grave;
They borrowed a winding sheet;
But the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore
Were his own - the cross was his own!
Our
Lord’s triumphal entry is rich in its content, and striking in its
implications. May we learn to appreciate it more with every passing
year.