Mark 11:1-11

IV. THE LAST WEEK 11:1 to 15:47
A. SUNDAY: THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY 11:1-11

TEXT 11:1-11

And when they draw night 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 had been 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. And he entered into Jerusalem into the temple; and when he had looked round about upon all things, it being now eventide, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 11:1-11

592.

Please attempt to locate the place described in Mark 11:1 as nigh unto Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany.

593.

Who were the two disciples of Mark 11:2?

594.

Into which village did the disciples go?

595.

Why was it important to mention the colt had never carried a man? Cf. Zechariah 9:9.

596.

Was this not a rather presumptuous request on the part of Jesus? Explain.

597.

Why would the owner of the animal be so willing to comply with the request?

598.

Why promise immediate return of the colt?

599.

At what particular place was the colt tied?

600.

Did they bring one or two animals. Cf. Matthew 21:2.

601.

Were the people and the disciples aware of the prophetic import of their actions?

602.

Why cast garments upon the colt?

603.

Why was symbolized or typified in casting the garments and leaves in the way?

604.

Why did Jesus permit this public demonstration?

605.

What is the meaning of the word Hosanna?

606.

How is the word blessed used here?

607.

In what sense did Jesus restore the kingdom of David?

COMMENT

TIME.A.D. 30. Sunday, 2d April, 10th Nisan (Palm Sunday), the fifth day before the great Jewish Passover. It was the first of their secular days after the Jewish Sabbath had ended.
PLACES.(1) Bethany. (2) The main road from Bethany to Jerusalem. (3) Jerusalem. The places connected with this lesson are among those hallowed by the most tender associations of our Lord. He slept the night preceding the entry into Jerusalem at Bethany, the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, where he had raised Lazarus from the dead, to which sweet place of rest and sympathy the Lord often retired when at Jerusalem. It stood about two miles east of the city on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, which lay between it and Jerusalem. Through it led the highway from the Jordan to the Holy City. A small village with a similar name still stands upon its ancient site. From Bethany the road led through Bethphage, a small village of the time of our Lord, nearer Jerusalem, that has not even left a trace by which its position can be certainly known. Over the Mount of Olives there were three paths, one on the north between two peaks of the hill, a second over the summit of the southern peak, and a third on the south around the slope, between the Mount of Olives and the Hill of Offence. This was the best and most frequented road and was the one taken by the Savior. The Mount of Olives lay just east of Jerusalem, with the vale of the Kedron, or valley of Jehoshaphat, as it was called, between. The summit was about a mile from the city and overlooked it. It took its name from the olive trees that grew upon its sides until they were cut down by the Roman general, Titus, for use in the siege of Jerusalem. It was a kind of park, or pleasant resort for the inhabitants. It rises 2,724 feet above the sea level and 300 feet higher than the Temple hill.

INTERVENING HISTORY.Many interesting events occurred between the healing of Bartimeus and our present event; the following is their probable order: (1) Our Lord, after giving sight to Bartimeus, converts Zaccheus, and is entertained by him in Jericho (Luke 19:1-10), where he remains during the night. (2) In the morning he speaks to the people the parable of the pounds (Luke 19:11-28). (3) He leaves Jericho, and apparently reached Bethany on the evening of Friday, March 31, Nisan 8. There (4) in quiet retirement he spent his last earthly Sabbath (our Saturday, April 1); and (5) in the evening, the Sabbath being over at Sunset, he sat down to a festal meal provided by the sisters of Lazarus at the house of one Simon, who had been a leper. (Matthew 26:6; John 12; John 2). (6) At this feast he was anointed by Mary (John 12:3); and (7) during the night a council of the Jews was convened to consider the propriety of putting, not him only, but Lazarus also, to death (John 12:10).Maclear.

PARALLEL ACCOUNTS.Matthew 21:1-11; Luke 19:29-44; John 12:12-19. LESSON OUTLINE.1. The Lord's Charge, 2. The Charge Obeyed. 3. The King Proclaimed.

ANALYSIS

I.

THE LORD'S CHARGE, Mark 11:1-3.

1.

The Two Disciples Sent. Mark 11:1; Matthew 21:1; Luke 19:29.

2.

The Charge to the Disciples. Mark 11:2; Matthew 21:2; Luke 19:30.

3.

The Lord Hath Need. Mark 11:3; Matthew 21:3; Luke 19:31.

II.

THE CHARGE OBEYED, Mark 11:4-7.

1.

The Disciples on their Mission. Mark 11:4; Matthew 21:6; Luke 19:32.

2.

The King's Demand, Mark 11:6; Luke 19:34.

3.

The King Obeyed. Mark 11:7; Matthew 21:7; Luke 19:35.

III.

THE KING PROCLAIMED, Mark 11:8-11.

1.

Homage to the King. Mark 11:8; Matthew 21:8; Luke 19:36.

2.

Hosanna to the King. Mark 11:9-10; Matthew 21:9; Luke 19:38; John 12:13.

3.

The King in Jerusalem. Mark 11:11; Matthew 21:10; Luke 19:41; John 12:19.

INTRODUCTION

We may suppose that as our Savior crossed the Jordan, and came across the desert tract between the Jordan and Jericho, he walks at the head of his train of twelve disciples. As he departs from Jericho, his fame, and the idea that he is on his way to Jerusalem, attract the multitude to follow him. From Jericho he mounts the ascending hills of bleak limestone rocks, celebrated at that time as a route of danger from robber hordes, and characterized from that time to this as a scene of desert dreariness. It was the scene of the parable of the good Samaritan, By the same route that the men went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, did our Lord go up from Jericho to Jerusalem. Some miles he walks, when Bethany appears in a distant view, a little widespread village, perched upon a shelf of the eastern side of the Mount of Olives, about two miles from Jerusalem. He arrived at Bethany, according to John 12:1, six days before his last passover; the six days of what has been called in the church, with true propriety, the Passion Week. The significance of this entry into Jerusalem has been too little considered. It was Christ's nature to shun crowds; his custom to avoid them. He forbade his disciples from disclosing to others that he was the Messiah, and this prohibition was repeatedly given. Matthew 16:20; Matthew 17:9; Mark 3:12; Mark 5:43; Mark 6:36, etc. This exceptional assumption of dignity and acceptance of homage is for this reason the more remarkable and significant. I believe it to be an emphasis of the truth that he was a King and came as King; that it throws forth into prominence a truth respecting him often forgotten, namely, that he is Lord and Master, as well as Savior, crowned with authority as well as with humility and love.Abbott.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

I.

THE LORD'S CHARGE.

Mark 11:1. When they came nigh to Jerusalem. Luke says, ascended up to Jerusalem, because Jericho is 3,000 feet lower than Jerusalem. A journey of about eighteen miles up the rugged ravine that leads from Jericho to Jerusalem. As the passover, with its sacrifices, was just at hand, companies of pilgrims, driving sheep for the altar, would be seen in the highways, all gathering up from the four quarters to the center of the nation's faith. Among them goes the Lamb of Godthe one sacrificefinal, perfect, and sufficient, whom these typical altars of thousands of years had heralded with their banners of smoke and flame. To Bethphage and Bethany. Two suburban villages east of Jerusalem on the east slope of the Mount of Olives. Mark omits all mention of the stay at Bethany, which is narrated in John 12:1-11. The Lord reached Bethany Friday evening, remained over the Sabbath at that quiet hamlet, and on Sunday made his entry into Jerusalem. Sendeth forth two of his disciples. The sending of the two disciples proves the deliberate intention of Jesus to give a certain solemnity to the scene. Till then he had withdrawn from popular expressions of homage; but once, at least, he wished to show himself as King Messiah of his people. It was a last call addressed by him to the population of Jerusalem. This course, besides, could no longer compromise his work. He knew that in any case death awaited him in the capital.Godet. He would have a public testimony to the fact that it was their King the Jews crucified. It is not merely the Messiah that saves, nor the crucified One that saves, but the Messiah crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23). An analogous commission to prepare the passover was given to Peter and John (Luke 22:8). They may have been the two sent forth.Abbott.

Mark 11:2. Into the village over against you. Leaving Bethany on foot, attended by his disciples and others, he comes to the place where the neighboring village of Bethphage is in view, over against them, perhaps separated from them by a valley. To this village he probably sent his disciples, Ye shall find a colt tied, It was the colt of an ass, an animal in disfavor in the West, but highly esteemed in the East. Geikie says: Statelier, livelier, swifter than with us, it vies with the horse in favor. In contrast to the horse, which had been introduced by Solomon from Egypt, and was used especially for war, it was the symbol of peace. To the Jew it was peculiarly national. For had not Moses led his wife, seated on an ass, to Egypt? had not the Judges ridden on white asses? Every Jew, moreover, expected, from the words of one of the prophets (Zechariah 9:9), that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem riding on an ass, No act could be more perfectly in keeping with the conception of a king of Israel. Matthew speaks of the she-ass and the colt together, to show that it was a colt which yet went with its motherso fulfilling the Scripture, that it was one upon which never man sat. Whereon never man sat. The fact is mentioned by Mark and Luke only (Luke 19:30). It was probably, in their eyes, significant, as showing that he who used the colt did so in his own right, and not as filling a place which others had filled before him. This was not, we think, as Hengstenberg maintains, to indicate humility, but sacredness. See Luke 23:53. Our Lord was laid in a sepulcher that was hewn in stone, wherein never man was laid before. And so our Lord was born of a pure virgin. His birth, His triumph, His tomb, were thus alike. His appearance, His history, and his departure are thus indicated to be above the level of ordinary humanity. Loose him, and bring him. The demand was kingly. On this day the Lord's acts are all those of a King. The owner of the colt either was impressed by the authority of the expected Messiah King, or was a disciple.

Mark 11:3. The Lord hath need of him. It was enough for the loyal subject of an eastern king to know that his Lord made the demand and it was instantly obeyed. Hence, on this occasion, the only explanation to be offered was that the King had need. All Israel should be made to know that he who had come to Jerusalem to die was their King.

II.

THE CHARGE OBEYED.

Mark 11:4. And found the colt tied by the door without. Trusting their Master, the two disciples obeyed, and found all as the Lord declared. The colt was tied, without the door, in front, in the open street, as the Revision translates, rather than at a street corner, as the Common Version implies, It is not likely that Bethphage had any cross streets, but was built on each side of the road leading to Jerusalem. It was a small village.

Mark 11:5. What do ye, loosing the colt? This was spoken by the owner, or members of his household. The reply given was that which the Lord directed, and had the expected effect. The disciples were simply to obey orders, and all the rest would follow.

Mark 11:6. And they let them go. All this was in accordance with a plan predicted 600 years ago. The prophet Zechariah had declared (Zechariah 9:9) that thus the King would make his entry.

Mark 11:7. They brought the colt to Jesus. It was not the mother, but the colt, upon which no man had ever sat, that Jesus chose for his purpose. Cast their garments on him. Combining the four accounts, we get the following features: Some took off their outer garments, the burnoose, and bound it on the colt as a kind of saddle; others cast their garments in the way, a mark of honor to a king (2 Kings 9:13); others climbed the trees, cut down the branches, and strewed them in the way (Matthew 21:8); others gathered leaves and twigs and rushes (Mark 11:8). This procession was made up largely of Galileans, but the reputation of Christ, increased by the resurrection of Lazarus, had preceded him, and many came out from the city to swell the acclamations and increase the enthusiasm (John 12:13). Matthew adds that all this was in fulfillment of prophecy (Matthew 21:4-5). Compare Zechariah 9:9. He sat upon him. Our Lord sat on the foal (Mark, Luke), and the mother accompanied, apparently after the manner of a sumpter, as prophets so riding would be usually accompanied (but not, of course, doing the work of a sumpter). He who in all his journeys travelled like a poor man on foot, without noise and without train, now he goes up to Jerusalem to die for sinners; he rides, to show his great forwardness to lay down his life for us. Every Jew, moreover, expected, from the words of one of the prophets, that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem, poor and riding on an ass. No act could be more perfectly in keeping with the conception of a king of Israel, and no words could express more plainly that the King proclaimed himself the Messiah.

Mark 11:8. Spread their garments. The custom is still sometimes seen in the East. Dr. Robinson relates that shortly after a rebellion which had taken place among the people of Bethlehem, when some of the inhabitants were already imprisoned, and all were in deep distress, Mr. Farran, the English consul at Dasmascus, was on a visit to Jerusalem, and had rode out with Mr. Nicolayson to Solomon's pools. On their return, as they rose the ascent to enter Bethlehem, hundreds of the people, male and female, met them, imploring the consul to interfere in their behalf, and afford them his protection, and all at once, by a sort of simultaneous movement, they spread their garments in the way before the horses. It has not been uncommon to carpet the way for a king. Cut down branches. John says of palm trees. The wide, spreading leaf of the palm would be well adapted to the purpose of making a carpet for his way. The branches of palm trees are not strictly branches at all, but the enormous leaves, twelve to sixteen feet long, which spring from the top of the tall, straight trunk, A few palm trees are still to be seen in Jerusalem.

III.

THE KING PROCLAIMED.

Mark 11:9. That went before and. that followed. Two vast streams of people met on that day. The one poured out from the city; and, as they came through the gardens whose clusters of palm rose on the southeastern corner of Olivet, they cut down the long branches, as was their wont at the Feast of Tabernacles, and moved upward toward Bethany with shouts of welcome. From Bethany streamed forth the crowds who had assembled there the previous night. The two streams met midway. Half of the vast mass, turning round, preceded: the other half followed. Gradually the long procession swept up and over the ridge where first begins the descent of the Mount of Olives towards Jerusalem. At this point the first view is caught of the southeastern corner of the city. The temple and the northern portions are hid by the slope of Olivet on the right: what is seen is only Mount Zion. It was at this point, as he drew near, at the descent of Mount Olives, that the shout of triumph burst forth from the multitude.Stanley. Hosanna. A Greek modification of the Hebrew words, Save now, I beseech thee, in Psalms 118:25, the next verse of which formed part of their song, Blessed, etc. It is used as an expression of praise, like hallelujah. The faith of the holy Jews under the law, and of the holy Gentiles under the gospel, was one and the same. They that went before Christ in the one, and they that followed Christ in the other, did both cry, Hosanna to the Son of David! did both obtain salvation by the same Savior, and by the same way (Ephesians 2:18).Lightfoot. That cometh in the name of the Lord. The words are taken in part from Psalms 118:25-26, a hymn which belonged to the great hallelujah chanted at the end of the Paschal Supper and the Feast of Tabernacles. The people were accustomed to apply it to the Messiah.Godet.

Mark 11:10. Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh. (Better as in the Revised.) This recognizes clearly that Christ's kingdom is the continuation of the old kingdom of God's people, whose future glories are prophesied so often in the Old Testament. Hosanna in the highest. In the highest degree, in the highest strains, in the highest heavens.

Mark 11:11. Entered into Jerusalem. It was hereafter never possible to say that he had never declared himself in a wholly unequivocal manner. When Jerusalem afterwards was accused of the murder of the Messiah, she could not say that he had omitted to give an intelligible sign to all alike.Lange. Into the temple. Jesus, the true Paschal Lamb, thus presented himself, as required by the law, that the victim to be offered should be set apart four days before the great day of atonement.Mimpriss. He went to the temple that the prophecy might be fulfilled (Malachi 3:1-3).M. Henry. And had looked round about. It was an act by which he took possession as it were, of his Father's house, and claimed dominion over itan attitude maintained by him throughout this final visit to the holy city. And now the eventide was come. The word eventide is somewhat indefinite; but it included the two or three hours before sunset, as well as after. The procession, if it started in the morning, had probably been delayed by frequent halts; and its movements through such a dense crowd must have been but slow.Plumptre. He went out. The day's work is completed with the Messianic entry itself; and only a visit to the Temple, and a significant look round about it, form the close, What the Messiah has still further to do (the cleansing of the temple, etc.) follows on the morrow.Meyer. To Bethany. Where he spent the nights of this eventful week.

FACT QUESTIONS 11:1-11

648.

Give the day, month and year for Palm Sunday. Why call it Palm Sunday?

649.

What tender associations were maintained by our Lord at Bethany?

650.

Where was Bethphage?

651.

Locate the mount of Olives as related to Jerusalem.

652.

Name at least three events between the healing of Bartimeus and entering Jerusalem.

653.

What route did Jesus take from Jericho to Bethany? Why wasn-'t it dangerous for Jesus?

654.

Show how Jesus-' actions in this entrance into Jerusalem was especially significant.

655.

Describe the procession from Jericho to Jerusalem; how far was it?

656.

What occurred in John 12:1-11 omitted by Mark?

657.

How did Jesus give expression to His deliberate intention?

658.

Show just who it is that saves.

659.

How does Luke 22:8 relate to sending out the two for the colt?

660.

In what village were they to find the colt?

661.

In what historical connection was the colt in contrast with the horse?

662.

Show how use of the ass was peculiarly national.

663.

Show how our Lord's birth, triumph and tomb were all alike.

664.

Was the colt tied at a street corner? Explain the K.J.V. Mark 11:4 b.

665.

Show how the whole plan of the entrance into Jerusalem was 600 years old.

666.

Refer to 2 Kings 9:13 and show how it compares here.

667.

What particular people made up the procession who hailed Jesus as King?

668.

What is a sumpter and the work of a sumpter?

669.

What great forwardness is shown by our Lord?

670.

Show how the experience of Dr. Robinson confirms the event of the scripture.

671.

How would palm branches be especially appropriate for this occasion?

672.

What two vast crowds met midway?

673.

Show the relation of Psalms 118:25-26 to this event.

674.

Lightfoot makes a beautiful comparison of the two crowdswhat is it?

675.

What had Jesus declared in a very unequivocal manner?

676.

In what way was Jesus keeping the law for the Paschal lamb?

677.

What prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus-' going into the temple? Cf. Malachi 3:1-3.

678.

Why look about in the temple?

679.

What hours are included in the word eventide?

680.

When did Jesus weep over Jerusalem?