The King Comes to Jerusalem

Mark 11.1-10

Introduction

A triumphal entry, the coming of Jesus to Jerusalem as King of the Jews. The fulfillment of prophesy and strong anticipation of renewal of the Kingdom of God.

The Journey to Jerusalem

-Jerusalem is on a plateau with the Mount of Olives to the East, 300 feet higher, looking over Jerusalem, with the Kidron Valley between them.

-Jesus had healed two blind men and eaten with Zacchaeus on his way to stay with Mary, Martha and Lazarus the day before his entrance into Jerusalem. Luke 18.35-19.10; John 12.1-11.

-Began on the East slope of the Mount of Olives and mounted a colt near Bethphage (means house of figs). Cloaks and palm branches placed as a “red carpet” before him. 2 Kings 9.13

-Over the first ridge Jesus and those with him would see the south-eastern corner of Jerusalem, the former site of David’s palace and the present site of Herod’s palace. This would evoke thoughts of the past glory under David, the present oppression under Rome, and hope of the future kingdom under the coming son of David. Zechariah 9.9 a prophecy of the coming King.

-Hosanna means “save now”. With “in the highest” calls for the angels of  heaven to cry to God to save now. With “to the son of David” for Jesus the son of David to save them.

-Over the second ridge the whole city is visible. Jesus wept over the city for their lack of repentance and not seeking the things that would make for peace. God would shortly judge Jerusalem in 70 AD. Luke 19.41-44.

-God proclaimed Jesus as King of the Jews. Even the rocks would cry out if the people did not Luke 19.40.

-Blasphemy was the charge of the chief priest against Jesus but a claim to be King of the Jews was the charge brought before Pilate.

Conclusion

Jesus is King and will be proclaimed as King by all of creation in the near future. Make him your King today.

SERMON NOTES

The King Comes to Jerusalem                       Mark 11.1-10

The chapter heading for these verses in my Bible, and probably in your Bible as well, is “The Triumphant Entry”. These verses do describe the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem but even more so they describe the coming of Jesus to Jerusalem as the King of the Jews. So my title this morning is “The King Comes to Jerusalem”.

In these verses we have the actions of Jesus fulfilling prophesy, strong emotions being expressed by those participating in the Passover feast and the religious leaders, and the hope of seeing God’s promise to establish the Kingdom of God on earth fulfilled.

The scene begins as Jesus leaves the house of Mary and Martha and Lazarus in the village of Bethany, about two miles from Jerusalem, and heads on foot towards Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built on a plateau so that we read of people going up to Jerusalem. On the East side of Jerusalem is a small mountain range which during the time of Jesus was covered with Olive trees and was called the Mount of Olives. From the Mount of Olives a person could look down 300 feet onto the city of Jerusalem. Between the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem is the Kidron Valley. The village of Bethany is on the east side of the Mount of Olives, on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem. We read in the Gospels that before Jesus came to Bethany to stay for the night he passed through Jericho and healed two blind men and ate with Zacchaeus.

So Jesus is slowly climbing up the East side of the Mount of Olives coming from the village of Bethany. There were easily over a million people who came for the Passover feast and many of them stayed in Bethany and the other small villages on the Mount of Olives because Jerusalem could not accommodate them. So along with Jesus and his disciples there would be many visitors making there way into the city of Jerusalem. Word had already gone ahead the Jesus was going to come to Jerusalem that day and crowds were making their way out of the city to meet Jesus as he came into the city. The raising of Lazarus from the dead a month and a half earlier made them all the more eager to see Jesus.

Jesus gave instruction to two of his disciples to go into one of the villages they were passing, probably Bethphage, and to get a colt for him to ride on as he entered into the city of Jerusalem. I think Jesus had made plans ahead of time to have this colt ready for him.

The disciples threw their cloaks on the colt and Jesus sat on it and continued his way up the East side of the Mount of Olives. People were spreading their cloaks on the road as well as palm branches they had cut from the fields. Bethphage means “house of figs” so besides olive trees there were many fig trees from which to get palm branches. (2 Kings 9.13)

When Jesus went over the first ridge of the Mount of Olives, he and the people that were with him could see ahead and below them the south-eastern corner of Jerusalem. The rest of the city was hidden from site by the Mount of Olives. What they would see was the site of the former location of the palace of King David which was now occupied by the palace of Herod. This would evoke thoughts of God’s promise to put one of David’s descendants on the throne of Israel and God’s promise to renew the kingdom and glory of Israel. This sight of Herod’s palace would fill them with hope that in Jesus Rome could be defeated and Israel reestablished over the nations.

Some may have remembered the prophecy of Zechariah (9.9) quoted by Matthew, “Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden”. Certainly their shouting made it clear that they recognized Jesus as the son of David. “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel”; “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David”; “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord”. There is no doubt what was in their minds at this time.

“Hosanna” means “save now”. The people were blessing Jesus but also crying out for Jesus to save them from their Roman oppressors. The cry “Hosanna in the highest” means “let even the angels in the highest heaven cry unto God to save us”. “Hosanna to the son of David” means “let Jesus the son of David save us”. The king of the Jews, the son of David, God’s deliverer was coming to Jerusalem.

Jesus now descended the Mount of Olives into a small valley and Jerusalem disappeared from view. Climbing up the other side of this small valley and reaching a second ridge on the Mount of Olives the whole city of Jerusalem came into view, including the magnificent Temple. Here Jesus stopped and wept over the city. Luke writes, “And when Jesus drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation’” (Luke 19.41-44)

At this very moment Jesus is being acclaimed as King of the Jews with the anticipation that he will once again establish the throne of his father David, but Jesus is weeping for Israel because they are missing the fact that God is visiting them to bring them salvation through his death. Jesus is not coming to bring political and military victory over Rome, but to save the world through his death on a cross. Jesus was seeking for repentance and confession of sin from the Jews, the things that make for peace. But that was not their desire. And so God had blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts and was shortly going to pour His judgment upon them. They are acknowledging Jesus as a savior from Rome but not a savior from sin. They see their physical bondage but not their bondage to sin. They have missed the time of God’s visitation to them offering salvation for repentance. The city of Jerusalem was completely destroyed 40 years later.

In Jesus weeping over Jerusalem is a strong warning to you who have not yet chosen to give yourself to Jesus Christ. The longer you wait, the more of a chance you have of missing God’s visitation upon your life, and of your heart being hardened to God.

For those of you who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ but know that your thoughts, actions, and words do not line up with your profession, you need to cry out to God for mercy and help before your eyes become so blind and your hearts so hard that you will not be able to cry out to God anymore.

Jesus then proceeded down the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley and into the city of Jerusalem, acclaimed all the way as King of the Jews. We are told that some of the Pharisees ask Jesus to rebuke his disciples for what they were saying about him. Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out” (Luke 19.40). It was time for God to loudly and publicly proclaim to all of Jerusalem, and to all the world through the Gospel record, that Jesus is the King of the Jews, the promised son of David, the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

I want to close by pointing out how this event worked in the plan of God to crucify Jesus Christ. When the chief priests and the Sanhedrin arrested Jesus and put him on trial their final accusation against him was blasphemy. Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, the son of the living God (Matthew 26.63-68). The sentence for blasphemy was death. The problem the Sanhedrin had was that they could not lawfully put anyone to death (John 18.31). They also knew that Pilate would not put Jesus to death on a charge of blasphemy. So when they presented Jesus to Pilot they brought an accusation of his claim to be the King of the Jews, a threat to Roman rule.

In the interchange between Pilate and the chief priests, Pilate said to them “shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar”. The chief priests served God with their mouths but their hearts were far from God. They were concerned about their positions of power and financial gain, not about submission and worship to God.

The questions of Pilate, the mocking by his soldiers and the soldiers of Herod, the mocking of the thieves at the cross, the mocking of those who were looking on, the sign over the cross, and even the repentance of one thief asking Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom, all center on the claim that Jesus is the King of the Jews, a claim made by others about him and never denied by Jesus when under trial. Had it not been for the royal entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem as King of the Jews, this accusation of King of the Jews against Jesus may never have been made and Jesus would never have been crucified. I stand in awe as I see how the plan of God unfolded. I stand in awe today as I see the plan of God continuing to unfold before my very eyes.

I am filled with sheer joy over the truth that one day “at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”. I am going to watch that event and scream and applaud with all the capacity I have at that time. The royal entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem was but a shadow of the acclaim Jesus deserves and will one day receive. Until that day, I am going to press on to know Him and follow Him and confess Him as Lord and King to others. May God put that desire in each one of us.

Communion: Colossians 1.13-14; 1 Timothy 6.13-16; Revelation 19.11-16