Mark 11:1-10 – The Lord’s triumphal entry

Having announced the impeding climatic event of His suffering, death, burial and resurrection, the Lord was now making His way to Jerusalem. What we are about to discuss is the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. So we read in verses 1-6 that He had had now come to Bethphage and Bethany, these two villages nearby Jerusalem. He then sent two of His disciples to the opposite village (very likely to Bathphage) to get a colt.

The Lord’s knowledge of the exact detail of the colt suggests that He had most likely pre-arranged it. It should not come as a surprise to us that The Lord was acquainted with the Scriptures, especially Zachariah 9:9, that refers to His entry into Jerusalem on a colt. So Jesus had the colt arranged and now was sending His disciples to fetch it. The incident happened in the exact detail as He had told the disciples. Some may conclude that since the Lord had arranged for the donkey, the whole event could not be prophetic. It certainly was! How do we know it is a fulfillment of Zachariah 9:9? While He could have arranged for the donkey, He could not have arranged for the crowd. This part was not within His control. Hence, we can comfortably surmise that He came to fulfill this prophecy.

     

It is interesting to note that all the synoptic gospels - Matthew, Mark and Luke – mention that the young donkey was one that no one had rode on before. It’s hard to ride on a donkey that had not been trained to take someone on its back before. It would literally dump a person attempting to ride it. But we are told that this one was quiet, obedient and responsive and peacefully submitted to the prince of peace as He rode it into the city and on the streets of Jerusalem.

According to verses 7-10, the disciples brought the colt to Jesus, put their coats over the donkey and the Lord rode on it into Jerusalem. Many cut leafy branches and paved the road for the Lord to ride in smoothly. And the people who were both in front and behind the Lord were shouting parts of Psalm 118:

“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!”

This account happened as Zachariah 9:9 had predicted, it reads:

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 on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Which king in history did not display their triumphal entry on war-horses? Which king did not ride into their city with trails of the booty of wars comprising defeated princes and their captured prisoners? But this King of kings, as Zachariah tells us, rode into Jerusalem on an untrained colt, slowly, peacefully and purposefully to be the redeemer of humanity. He came with salvation to offer. He came to set us free to enjoy His joy, peace and righteousness.  So let’s freely enter in!