Somewhere a husband and wife are painting a room either bright pink with ballerinas or bright blue with baseballs, depending on what they see in the sonogram. The room whiffs the subtle smell of Lysol and baby powder. They have to finish soon because they want to be ready to welcome home their brand new baby.
On the other side of town yellow ribbons entwine up the old oak tree, around the front porch columns. Tiny flags stand like soldiers at attention in anticipation, while larger flag hangs over the front door. A crowd stands around chatting, watching out of the corner of their eye a single dirt road, waiting to welcome their solider home from boot camp, from Iraq or Afghanistan.
Across town, near noon dad and mom are busy in the kitchen, while little Jimmy sits in the living room with the preacher. The preacher makes small talk: I appreciate your family inviting me to Sunday dinner. Do you know what we’re having? Jimmy replies We’re having goat! The preacher says Jimmy, what makes you think we’re having goat? Jimmy smiles and says well, I heard my dad tell my mom, “We might as well have the old goat for dinner today!”
A long, long time ago, in a city on the other side of the world, a great multitude gave a royal welcome to a long awaited King. They thought they knew Who He was. They thought they knew what He came to do. They were wrong about a lot of and yet He was more than worthy of the welcome they gave Him. Today, we’ll read about their welcome to help us welcome that same King into our lives. Our text is Mark 11:1-11.
PRAYER
Jerusalem is a royal city waiting for her King.
Centuries before the events recorded here a shepherd boy who rose to the throne turned made Jerusalem his capitol city. David was a man after God’s own heart, and Jerusalem became known as the city of the great King—not just King David, but King Jehovah.
But sadly sin and rebellion corrupted this great city. After David came Solomon, and after Solomon came a long chain of chaos: kings who committed unspeakable acts to idolatry and murder and other injustice. Finally, the Babylonians cut the city on a hill down to the ground, sent her king and her people into exile. Now the man who called himself King, a son of Esau named Herod, rules in Jerusalem as a puppet of the Roman emperor. But the people remember a promise, spoken in
Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.
Generation after generation read this promise, pray this promise, and die without ever seeing it come true. But today, they finally see it happen. Today they will offer their King a royal welcome.
It begins in vs. 1-7 when Jesus sends two of His disciples to get Him a ride into Jerusalem. Nowhere else does the Bible mention Jesus riding an animal during His ministry. As far as we know He got around like most other people, walking wherever He went. So this ride is significant.
One thing that’s significant is it is a borrowed ride. Jesus instructs His men to go and take a young donkey. If anybody questions why, they are simply to say the Lord has need of it. They find the donkey just as Jesus says, and of course, somebody asks just as Jesus says, and just as Jesus says, they let them take the donkey. Jesus is a King with authority to use whatever He needs.
Another significant detail is nobody has ever rode on this donkey. I don’t know much about horses or donkeys or any other riding animals, but I do know that before you ride one it has to be broken. It has to be humbled, tamed, before it’s safe to get on its back for a ride.
Yet as the disciples throw clothes for the donkey as a saddle, Jesus is a King Who has the power to tame the unbroken donkey.
These 2 details show us that welcoming Jesus means welcoming His authority.
When you welcome Jesus you welcome Jesus’ authority over all you possess. Whatever you own is at His disposal, available whenever and wherever …the Lord has need of it. Welcoming Jesus means what is yours becomes His.
That’s true about every donkey you own and every horsepower in your vehicle. It’s true about every penny in your pocket and dollar in your bank. It’s true about every moment of your day and every day in your year. It’s true about every talent or ability or gift. It’s true about every plan in your mind and every dream in your heart. Welcoming Jesus means welcoming His right to say to you …the Lord has need of it. That’s what He means when He says to each of us
Luke 14:33 …whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
Welcoming Jesus also means letting Him break you and me. Like that donkey that nobody ever sat on, there is a wildness in each and every human heart, a strong, stubborn desire to have your own way and go our own way. We buck and we run when anybody tries to saddle us, and our wild desires not only hurts us, but hurt the people around us. There is really only one person that can tame us, and that is King Jesus. Welcoming Him means allowing Him to saddle us up, giving Him the reins, and allowing Him to guide us wherever He wants us to go.
Whoever welcomes King Jesus welcomes His authority over your life.
In vs. 8-10 you see another aspect of this royal welcome as Jesus rides into Jerusalem: they welcome His salvation.
The crowd has no other way to pave the path, so they throw down clothes and branches, saving some of the palms to wave in the air. They shout words which are both praise and prayer: Hosanna!= Save us now! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!= Blessed is the King Who comes to save us!
These folks have heard stories about Jesus: how He gives the blind their sight, how He restores health to the sick, how He feeds thousands with just a few scraps. They’ve heard about His most recent miracle not far away in Bethany: He raises a man from the dead who’s been buried for 3 days! He has saved so many people from sickness and Satan and death—now He comes to Jerusalem to save them all!
They are right in one sense. He is the King Who saves us all, but He will not save by performing more miracles. He will not save them by seizing Herod’s crown of gold, but by wearing a bloody crown of thorns. He will not save them by building an army to fight for their freedom—He will save them by allowing evil men to bind Him and nail Him to a Cross. He will not save them by shedding the blood of His enemies, but by allowing His enemies to shed His blood. He will not save them by demanding acceptance from others, but by being abandoned by His Father. They do not understand His secret ambition is not to take over the world by force, but to win the world by love.
They welcome Him as Savior, but they do not really understand what kind of Savior He is. The same city that welcomes Him now will soon hear cries of crucify Him! This royal welcome will be short-lived.
Many people still don’t understand. Far too many see Jesus as a Good Man, even the best Man Who ever lived. Some sit in church and hear sermons about how much He loves us, and yet they never cry Hosanna! They either don’t think He can save them or don’t think they need saving.
Not many today ask the all-important question anymore: what must I do to be saved? Only bad people are not saved, only people who commit horrible crimes or who don’t believe in God go to hell. I’m as good as anybody else, as good as most people, I’m good enough!
But the Gospel tells us none of us are good enough to go to heaven, and all of us are bad enough to go to hell. It tells us we’re sinners, rebels against a Holy God, that our sins separate us from God’s love. The Bible says there is nothing you or I can do to scrub clean the stain of our guilt, nothing humanly possible to put us right with the Judge of all the earth, that our destiny is death.
But Jesus comes to change all that. He comes to erase your past and give you a new beginning. He comes to suffer and die in your place, to invite you to raise your hands to heaven and welcome Him just like this crowd does with Hosanna! Hosanna! Save me now! Lamb of God, take away my sins and wash me clean by Your blood!
Whoever welcomes King Jesus welcomes His authority and His salvation!
The King is welcomed by all the people, all the way to the Temple, where vs. 11 tells us He looks around. It doesn’t mention what He’s looking for or even what He sees. The main point is Jesus enters the Temple for a surprise inspection. This verse reminds us of
Malachi 3:1 …And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the Lord of hosts.
The Lord, the King, walks into His Own temple to examine and make sure everything is in order. Welcoming Him means welcoming His inspection not of His temple. Not the Temple Jesus walked into that day—it’s long gone, but an inspection of His new Temple.
The New Temple of God is in the hearts of His people, as individuals, and as His Body.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you [plur.] are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If Paul was from south GA he would write do ya’ll not know you are the Temple of God?
1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you [sing.], whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
The Temple of God is not a building but a Body—your body, if you are saved, and the Body of Christ, the church, all those who are united to Christ and each other by faith. If He is the King, then we welcome His inspection of His Temple.
What does He see in His Temple? As Jesus strolls through the halls of your heart and mind, what does He see? Does He see pictures you’re ashamed of? Does He see dirty corners you never bother to get clean? Does He see Himself honored, or despised?
When we gather together to worship the Lord as His church, and our Lord sits unseen, what does He see and hear? Does He hear praise sung from the heart, or dead dirges sung out of duty? Does He see thankful people glad to pray and give and hear His Word? Or does He see bored folks, watching their watches, whispering about everything else under the sun but Him?
If you welcome Jesus, you welcome His inspection. You pray with the psalmist:
Psalm 139:23–24 23Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties;
24And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
As His church, we should welcome His inspection, His correction, His rebuke as well as His approval. His Word is our rule of faith and practice, and He is the standard by which we judge everything from songs we sing to the business meetings we hold. If we welcome King Jesus, we welcome His inspection.
David Redding writes: I remember going home from the Navy during World War II. Home was so far out in the country that when we went hunting, we had to go toward town. On that farm I left behind Teddy, a big black Scottish shepherd. Teddy would do anything for me. He waited for me to come home from school. He slept beside me, and when I whistled he ran to me, even if he were eating.… And when I went away to war, I didn’t know how to leave him. How do you explain to someone who loves you that you’re leaving him and you won’t be chasing woodchucks with him tomorrow like always?
The last bus stop was fourteen miles from the farm. I got off there that night about eleven o’clock and walked the rest of the way home. It was pitch dark, but I knew every step of the way. Suddenly Teddy heard me and began his warning barking. Then I whistled only once. The barking stopped. There was a yelp of recognition, and I knew that a big black form was hurtling toward me in the darkness. Almost immediately he was there in my arms.—David A. Redding, Jesus Makes Me Laugh with Him
You and I are not dogs, but we could learn a thing or two from this dog. Why did this dog welcome him home so royally? Because he recognized his master.
This morning is a morning you and I can give our King a royal welcome.
Do you welcome His authority? What is there that you possess does Jesus say to you today the Lord has need of it? He doesn’t just want a part of your life—He wants all of your life surrendered to His authority. Only He can tame the sinful desires that will lead you to destruction.
Do you welcome His salvation? Don’t let your pride lie to you; humble yourself and admit you need Him to rescue you. There is no shame in reaching out for His grace when you are drowning in sin.
Do you welcome His inspection? Do you welcome His loving correction? Is His approval what you really seek?
The King is coming. Do you offer Him a royal welcome?
