Mark 11 Verses 1 – 3

• I tried this at the dealership. Didn’t work.
• But seriously this opening scene is amazing! Jesus is there with His boys at the Mount of Olives. Two thousand six hundred feet in elevation and right next to the Jerusalem. He could see all of the city! Why send them in, (two of them by the way as He always does), why send them ahead of Him for a donkey? It seems odd, it seems strange, it seems wasteful to me…Jesus, Donkey’s are slow…let’s just get after what we’re here for!
• But God’s ways are higher than ours the Bible says…even the world recognizes that. Rained all week this week. Got up on Tuesday morning, checked the forecast…”Is it going to rain today’’ I wondered…I never wonder why though. This is a funny thought.
• Weather-man answer-man on the TV! We never see that right!? “Rain likely today around noon and taking us on into the night…a down pour in some places…oh we have a caller on line 3, go ahead caller…” “Um yea, rain today right, do you know why? Why today? I wanted to ride my bike. Just wondering why…” HA! That seems so ridiculous right?
• The rain simply is…a fact of existence right? Asking why just sounds so out of place doesn’t it? And really when God moves, why is often a question and yet the answer many times we just can’t get…in comes faith. Lord why, what should I do, when should I do it…lay it all out for me…but where in that story is faith?
• My friend Dave Love asked me over lunch a few months back…April was there…”Matt, when are you going to go full time? The church is growing, the ministry is doing awesome things, what is God telling you?”

• “Well Dave I’ve prayed about this and thought about this a lot…I figure if I can work another about nine years then I’ll have 20 years with my company and then I can retire with a pretty nice pension and retirement savings and then I’ll have to only supplement my income very slightly with either a part time job or a small church paycheck…” He just listened patiently, and when I was finished, his only question…”where’s the faith in that plan?”

• “Sounds to me that just as soon as you’re sure that you’ll be comfortable, safe, got it all lined up so it can’t fail…then you’ll move…” I was totally convicted. I gave no defense…HA! I just kinda sat there for a moment and said, “You’re right! I’ll just move when its time. Forget my plan.” His response, “Good plan!” HA!!
• God’s ways are past our finding out the bible says but a few things we can be sure of…He loves us…His desire is to give us a future and a hope…He won’t lead us into temptation but will ultimately deliver us from evil…He will comfort us…He will always lead us into victory (2 Cor 2:14)…and yet, He asks for our partnership in that…that we trust Him, place our faith in Him, not our plans or our well thought out scenarios…

• This is an freaky thought but a Biblical truth, we see it right here as we open Mark Chapter 11…God needs…He says here, “The Lord has need…” God needs our willingness, our participation, our trust, our faith, even our time in order to bring about His high and awesome plan for our lives…

• Jesus could have just tractor beamed this donkey over to Himself (the claw from Toy Story)…He can maybe even see it from where He is at! But he sends two of His disciples, looks them in the eyes, and says these exact words, “The Lord had need.” This amazes me. God is sovereign. The Creator of all. The Ancient of Days…the One with no beginning and no end…He didn’t have to give us free will…He didn’t have to go this route but He has chosen to take a position where He will not do what He desires to do in our lives, in our families, in our communities, in our workplaces, in our marriages, in our ministries without our partnering with Him.

• Why? Because that is relationship man! How can two walk together unless they be in agreement the Bible says and yet one of our favorite questions for each other, “How’s your walk?”

• God loves us…don’t we get that? And in that…love suffers long, its kind, it doesn’t seek its own but the better of the other…it’s not puffed up, it’s not easily provoked…it bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things and never fails…and love isn’t something that God does, it is something that He is! It originated from Him!

• “Why should I pray, why should I study the Bible, why should I attend church, why should I obey God at His Word,” you might ask. “It doesn’t matter! God will still be God, God’s will will still come about…” What?! Folks are going to hell every day! Babies are being murdered every day! Cruelty, pride, selfishness, secret sin every day! Is that God’s will? NO WAY!!
• Somehow in God’s economy, His blessing and His moving as seen throughout His Word and in this world are dependent upon our participation…I don’t want my mind blown in heaven when I see what could have been in the lives of my children, in the life of my wife, in the life of my church…what could have been if I had taken my walk seriously and the possibility, the necessity of partnering with God seriously…instead of acting as if the Lord didn’t need me…

• He doesn’t after all, that’s true but understand this…that is how He has chosen to create us…with free will man…and therefore that is how He has ordained His creation to work man…and so even though He is sovereign, yes…man must still step up and run with Him lest loss be our lot in this life…not me man…Jesus says here, “The Lord has need…” and my heart answers, “It is my pleasure, my honor…MY NEEED Lord to fill Your need!!!!!!!

Mark 11 Verses 4 – 6

• I love this! This direction from Jesus sounds somewhat ridiculous. Certainly uncomfortable. But notice how it comes to pass precisely. And the courage of the disciples is notable. Stealing a man’s colt in that culture could get you killed! Grand theft donkey!! Yet the Lord told them what to say and (what a crazy thought!) they said it! He gave them direction, and they followed it…and look how it turned out!!!
• And I love this pattern hidden in plain sight. Verse 2 says, “Jesus said to them.” Verse 6 says, “They spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded.” See that? A disciple of Jesus, a follower of Jesus…one that will see His Word fulfilled in their lives…Jesus’ very statements are not just statements…they are marching orders man…commandments!
• This is also a perfect fulfillment of 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.” There are those that say Jesus staged fulfillments of prophecy…because it is undeniable that He did indeed fulfill prophecy but some say, “Ahhh anyone could do that!” Now I disagree on some points. How could someone fulfill prophecy concerning their own birth? Their parents? Their birthplace? Their death even? Obvious answer right? They can’t!
• But maybe this one…maybe this one He could of…but check this out…wouldn’t He have just gone on down to the donkey dealership and gotten one? This way seems just about the oddest, most difficult way to fulfill this prophecy, why? To make it clear to them and to us that He is indeed the foretold Messiah!

Mark 11 Verse 7

• They didn’t have to do that.   No commandment to do that. All they were commanded to do was bring the beast, man…but look what they do. They do more than what is required…why? Because they love Him, man…see how love takes you that extra bit…that extra step? They entreat…not just obedience…not just faithfulness…but service and blessing? They bless Jesus!

• You think that was work for them? “Oh here you go…we did it! I’m exhausted! We’ve done enough!” I don’t think so. I think they were, each of them, so very blessed themselves by placing their clothes on the donkey for Jesus to ride upon…they wanted to! Oh how wondrous love is!!!! How amazing!

Mark 11 Verses 8 – 11

• The people were actually singing a Psalm. Psalm 118 and in doing so they were publically, profoundly, promoting Him as the Messiah!! And yet something else is here…
• “Hosanna, Hosanna,” literally “Save now!” As the crowd cried out this prayer, “save now,” they were looking for a Messiah who would free them politically, who would lead a revolution militarily to overthrow the rule of Rome…but Jesus was coming with an entirely different Kingdom in mind…and where were the crowds of Hosanna singers a week later when Jesus would be nailed to a cross…where were they?

• You see, He didn’t do what they had expected of Him…they didn’t understand…their sight failed them, their faith was non-existent…Mark tells us the crowd cried out…”Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord…” that word in the Greek for blessed…eulogeo…where we get our word eulogy…The crowd cried out for their carnal, temporal salvation…and yet if Jesus had answered that prayer…overthrow Pilate and even all of Rome and lived His life out as the King of the world…all of the people would be lost eternally…stuck to die in their sins…

• And so they called out “victory,” Jesus looked upon the crowd and knew…it was His eulogy…(Do as we say…or You’re dead to us!) BUT, it was also death’s eulogy…His life for ours…death and its power over His creation, His children, us…He would put an end to it…and as He hung on the cross, accomplishing my salvation, freeing me of sin man…all the earth, all of heaven, all of hell…turned their backs on Him…He did it alone man…yes He needs our partnership, yes He requires our choice…but love, grace, power, security, salvation…it’s all His doing…our only role in the matter, receive Him, trust Him, walk with Him…