Return to Getting Ready for the Cross
Main Idea:
It’s been said that actions speak louder than words.
We see a powerful example of that in
I.
Jesus revealed His identity:
He is the King (1-10).
A. Consider what He did.
1. He told His disciples to
bring a colt.
2. He entered the city to
the applause of the crowd.
3. He fulfilled
B. Consider what His actions are
saying.
1. He is declaring that He
is the Messiah.
2. He is forcing people to
make a decision about Him.
3. He is bringing about His
own cross.
II.
Jesus revealed His intent:
He came to rescue sinners (11).
A. Consider what He did.
1. He went to the temple.
2. He looked around at
everything in the temple.
3. He left the temple.
4. He left the city of
B. Consider what His actions say to
us.
1. Our greatest need isn’t
what we often think it is.
2. Our greatest need is to
be right with God.
3. Jesus came to meet that
need.
Application:
Let’s take to heart Jesus’ message…
1. Is He your King?
2. Do you treasure His cross?
3. Will you help others come to
know Him this week?
It’s one of the most common symbols in our country.
In fact, it’s all over the place.
I saw several last week as I was driving along Interstate 79 in
The symbol, of course, is the
cross. We see the cross
everywhere. It’s literally all
around us. And all around the
world, too. I’ve seen crosses
towering above towns and cities as I’ve traveled in
But here’s the sad reality. It’s possible to have a cross and miss the point of the cross. For millions and millions of people, it’s just an ornament, or a piece of architecture, or a memorial marker for a loved one. The symbol is there, but it’s been gutted of its significance.
And even those of us who know the message of the cross, and believe in the One who died on the cross for our sins, are prone to take the cross for granted and even trivialize it in our lives. If we’re not intentional, we’ll neglect the cross. It’s that simple. We’re so prone to take for granted the most important event that ever occurred on planet earth.
That’s why we’re doing this two-part series of messages,
Getting Ready for the Cross.
We’re traveling with Jesus to the cross in Mark’s Gospel account, and
this morning we come to
Life is full of unspoken messages. Two cars pull up to an intersection at the same time. The drivers make eye contact, and the one on the right goes first. They had a wordless conversation, didn’t they?
A child is crawling under the pew in church and the parent makes eye contact and raises an eyebrow. That’s an unspoken message and the child, if he’s listening to the message, will quickly returns to his seat.
It’s been well said, “Actions speak louder than words.”
Jesus, the Master Teacher, certainly understood this.
It’s significant how few words He spoke, at least recorded words, on one
of the most significant days in His earthly life.
I have in mind the day of His triumphal entry.
We call it “Palm Sunday,” and on that day, according to
I. Jesus
revealed His identity: He is the
King (1-10).
When Jesus rode that colt into
Allow me to set the stage. The Gospel of Mark is a Gospel of action. One of the key words in the book is “immediately” (we see it in 10:52). Mark continually allows Jesus’ actions to teach us about the Savior’s identity.
The first ten chapters of Mark tell the story of Jesus’ life and public
ministry up to His final week.
Beginning in chapter 11 to the end of the book, Mark puts the spotlight on the
events of Jesus’ final week, the Passion week.
The event that kicked off the final section and the final week is
presented in the story we’re about to consider.
In fact, it’s so significant that all four Gospel writers include the
account of Jesus’ triumphal entry into
In
Now it’s time. In
From reading Mark (as well as the other synoptic Gospels penned by
Matthew and Luke), we might assume that Jesus didn’t go to
It’s Sunday, the first day of the week.
The Jewish Passover is just a few days away, and thousands of devout Jews
are making the trek to
At this point Jesus preached the first of His sermons without words in
A. Consider what He did.
Notice verse 1—“As they approached
Keep in mind some pertinent background information.
Furthermore, it had only been a short while and a few miles down the road
in
1. He told His disciples to bring a colt. Verse 1 concludes, “Jesus sent two of his disciples.” Which two? Mark doesn’t give us their names.
Bethphage [which means ‘house of figs’] and Bethany were located on the
eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, just two miles from
In verses 2-3 the Lord gave instructions to the two unnamed disciples, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”
The instructions seem kind of strange to our ears. Why does Jesus want a colt? Is He tired of walking? And if so, why doesn’t He just stop and rest? And why an untamed colt? Everyone knows you don’t ride an unridden animal if you’re interested in smooth transportation.
But this isn’t about mere transportation. This is a sermon without words and every first century Jew watching Jesus knew it. So without question and likely with great anticipation the two disciples obeyed their Master’s orders.
Verses 4-6—“They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, ‘What are you doing, untying that colt?’ They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.”
I’ve wondered before why Jesus told His disciples to take the colt
without first asking for permission.
Some suggest that Jesus Himself had already asked for permission from the
unnamed owner, that He had even given him a previously arranged signal:
When I’m ready for the ride I’ll send two of my men who will say, “The
Lord needs it,” to verify the legitimacy of the request.
That’s possible. There may be another explanation as to why Jesus took the animal without first asking for it. We have here a good picture of what happens when Jesus enters our lives. When the Lord comes He doesn’t ask for permission to use what we think is ours. He who is King owns all and deserves our all. That may not sound kosher to our democratic ears, but Christianity isn’t a democracy. It’s a monarchy. Jesus is the King and everything exists for Him. We exist for Him. Everything we have is rightfully His.
Do you see Jesus’ omniscience here? He makes several predictions to the two disciples. There will be a colt. You’ll find it just after you enter the village. It will be tied. It will be an unridden colt. And everything Jesus predicted, the disciples found to be true. Everything.
Apparently, Mark is giving the abbreviated version of the story, for
Matthew’s account indicates Jesus told them to bring a donkey as well as her
colt (Matt. 21:2). That’s
interesting. The choice of a donkey
may seem strange to us, but once again to first century Jews it made perfect
sense. Unlike today, in first
century
It’s worth noting that Jesus made it clear He didn’t intend on keeping this colt. He specified that after using the colt He would send it back shortly.
What’s Jesus doing? I’ll say it now and support it from Scripture momentarily. Jesus is purposefully going public. Until now He who is the King of kings has gone out of His way to conceal His true identity from the public. Now He initiates it. This ride on a colt was a powerful and revealing action, and as we’ll soon see, the crowd got the message.
Another significant detail.
Note that the chosen colt had never been ridden.
According to Old Testament guidelines, for an animal to be used for a
sacred purpose, it must never have been used for any other purpose (for
instance, the red heifer in
Notice what Jesus did next as He continued to preach His wordless sermon. Mark tells us that…
2. He entered the city to
the applause of the crowd.
Verses 7—“When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he
sat on it.” Why did they throw
their cloaks on the animal? It’s
not just to pad the ride. They’re
getting the message. They know what
Jesus is saying by riding this donkey, and they like what they are hearing.
They are sick and tired of the Roman occupation. They’ve been waiting for
a God-sent king for centuries, a Jewish king who would deliver them and
establish the
Verse 8—“Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.” That’s strange, to throw your cloak on the dirty, manure-spotted road. Unlike us, most first century Jews did not have closets full of clothing. Many had only one cloak. This was BIG. To throw your clothing on the ground so that a donkey could step on it indicated that you believed this rider to be quite important.
Others placed branches on the ground.
The word for “branches” (stibadas) means “leaves” or “leafy
branches.” Only John’s Gospel
mentions these were palm branches (which were not native to
But it’s not just what the people did that indicates they were paying attention to Jesus’ wordless sermon. It’s what they said, too…
Verse 9—“Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, ‘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!’”
Hosanna is Hebrew and literally means “Save now!”
Barclay points out it occurs in the same form in
Mark specifically says there were two sets of voices shouting that day, those in front of Jesus and those following behind Him. Some suggest this is an antiphonal chant between the people in front of Jesus and those behind Him.
First group: “Hosanna!”
Second group: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
First group: “Hosanna in the highest!”[3]
The shout from the crowd is actually a quotation of Psalm 118:25-26, one of the Hallel (‘Praise’) psalms. The psalm predicts that someone is coming in the Lord’s name, that is, someone who will demonstrate the Lord’s authority and power. That special someone deserves to be blessed. And that’s what they are doing, blessing Him with their voices and actions.
Don't miss this. When the
crowds spread their branches and shouted "Hosanna!" it was not a cry of praise
to Jesus, as much as it was a cry to God to save His people from Roman
oppression. They believed the
Messiah had come. They believed
God's king had come to establish His kingdom.
Of course, He had, but not as they thought.
He hadn't come to save
You ask, “How did the Jews know Jesus was presenting Himself as King?”
They knew it because they knew their Bibles.
As soon as the Jewish pilgrims saw Jesus riding down the
That’s what Jesus did on Palm Sunday…
3. He fulfilled
And for over five hundred years the Jews waited.
Oh, they had a glimmer of hope a hundred and fifty years before this.
That’s when Simon Maccabaeus entered
“And he entered into it the three and twentieth day of the seventh month,
in the hundred, seventy, and first year, with thanksgiving and branches of palm
trees, and with harps, and cymbals, and viols, and hymns and songs, because
there was destroyed a great enemy of
Yes, without saying a word to the crowd Jesus preached quite a message that day. We’ve considered what He did. Now let’s…
B. Consider what His actions
are saying. Simply put, by
riding into
1. He is declaring that He is the Messiah. He is the One the prophets foretold. He is the Deliverer of Israel. He is Anointed One whom God sent to establish the eternal kingdom. That was Jesus’ declaration on Palm Sunday. “I am the King,” He said in a sermon without words. His actions say something else…
2. He is forcing people to make a decision about Him. The fact is, the people shouting ‘Hosanna’ expected Jesus to be a king like Caesar, but Jesus had come to be a different kind of king. Here we see Him riding, not on a white stallion but a donkey, with his subjects carrying, not swords but palm branches. “Conquering by gentleness, that is the Lord’s plan,” as J. D. Jones observes.[5]
On this day Jesus declared Himself to be King, yes, but those who heard Him had a different set of expectations. That happens in our day, too.
We may cry out to God, “Hosanna! Save now!” But what do we want Jesus to save us from? From physical illness? From our problems? From the hardness of life? Please realize that King Jesus has a different agenda. He didn’t come to save you from physical illness, or from financial problems, not in this life. He came to save you from your sin.
When before Pilate, Jesus stated clearly, “My kingdom is not of this world.” If you want this world, you won’t accept Jesus. Jesus’ offer pertains to the life to come. Yes, He is a different kind of King. Jesus is doing something else in this wordless sermon…
3. He is bringing about His
own cross. By riding into
But that’s why He came, as He just told His disciples in
So there’s Jesus’ first wordless sermon in
II. Jesus
revealed His intent: He came to
rescue sinners (11).
Verse 11—“Jesus entered
I’ve wondered about this for a long time. Why did Jesus ride into the city, go to the temple, and leave without doing anything? Mark says He left because it was late, but does that mean that Jesus ran out of time and failed to do what He intended? No way. Jesus never failed to do anything! We can be sure that He did what He did with intentionality. No, there’s another sermon here, another wordless sermon. Let’s take a closer look at it.
A. Consider what He did. Mark indicates that Jesus did four things here…
1. He went to the temple.
That’s significant. Think of
where else Jesus could have gone, but didn’t.
Jesus did NOT enter
2. He looked around at
everything in the temple. Chew
on that word “everything.” There
was a lot to see in the temple, the altar, the animals, the money-changers.
My friend, this was not the look of a tourist (this wasn't the first time
Jesus had been in the
3. He left the temple. Oh, ponder the sadness in this. He looked around and then left the temple without saying a recorded word. We know from verse 15 that what He saw displeased Him greatly. God intended this temple to be a house of prayer, a place where sinners could come and experience cleansing. But man misinterpreted and misused this place, viewing it as a sort of religious lucky-charm. For centuries God had looked at this temple and forgiven sinners on the basis of the blood sacrifices offered there. But in just a matter of days that would end. The form would soon give way to fulfillment. In five days the temple veil would be torn in two, and in a few years the temple itself would be torn down.
Jesus left the temple. It was late, perhaps indicating more than the loss of daylight. Time had run out for the temple. It had fulfilled its purpose. God’s people would soon have a new temple. Indeed, God’s people would soon BE that temple (1 Cor. 3:16).
Which is why church is so important. In this new covenant age, to neglect the church is to neglect God’s temple. Keep that in mind when you’re wondering whether it’s worth all the effort to get the kids up and come to church on the Lord’s Day.
4. He left the city of
Those are the actions of Jesus’ wordless sermon. What’s the point?
B. Consider what His actions say to us. We learn three truths from this sermon.
1. Our greatest need isn’t
what we often think it is. Let
this sink in. He entered
2. Our greatest need is to be right with God. That’s what the temple was all about. Our greatest need isn’t for political reform, but for God’s forgiveness. We are sinners, cut off from God, who need to be reconciled to God. That’s what this temple was supposed to have provided for people, not just Jews but all people. “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations,” Jesus would say the very next day. Sadly, the very people who should have known better, the religious leaders, turned this house of worship into a religious relic.
Beloved, listen to Jesus’ wordless sermon. This is your greatest need. You need to be right with God. Are you? You can be…
3. Jesus came to meet that
need. It’s why He entered
Do you believe that? That’s what the cross is all about, not a sentimental symbol but the means of our salvation.
Two sermons without words, that’s what Jesus delivered on Palm Sunday. And as with any sermon, the response is critical.
Application:
Let’s take to heart Jesus’ message…
1. Is He your King?
It’s worth noting that Luke tells us something else that occurred when
Jesus came to
It’s a tragic reality that a city that shouted “Hosanna!” to Jesus on Sunday yelled “Crucify Him!” just five days later. As sad as that was, it still happens, as J. D. Jones observes:
“These people confessed Him, and crucified Him within a week. Is it an ancient crime? Do we never act in similar fashion? Do we not pay homage to Him on the Sunday and then crucify Him during the week? We sing in church, ‘Thou art the King of glory, O Christ’; but do we not by our actions outside often say, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us?’…Are we then loyal subjects?”[7]
It’s much easier to applaud Christ on Sunday than to obey Him during the week. It’s one thing to cheer Him, to say how much we love Him. It’s another to do His will. But that’s what He asks of us. That’s what He who is King deserves from us.
Is He your king? Be honest with yourself. Is Jesus truly your king?
2. Do you treasure His cross? It’s so easy to say you love Jesus on Sunday, like the crowd did in our story. It’s another thing to treasure Him on Friday when the world mocks Him and seeks to eliminate Him. That’s the real test. Do you treasure Christ and His cross?
A lot of people give intellectual assent to the cross. “Oh, sure. I believe that Jesus died on the cross. I’ve believed it all my life.” Okay, but do you treasure His cross?
There’s an eternal difference between agreeing that Jesus died on the cross and treasuring the cross. The demons believe in the cross, but they certainly don’t treasure it.
Do you treasure His cross? It’s so easy to take it for granted, to take Him for granted. That’s why I recommend that we sing a song every day about the cross, to keep our affections warm by reminding ourselves again and again what our Savior endured for us.
Here’s one by Wesley…
And
can it be that I should gain,
an
interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died
He for me who caused His pain,
for
me who Him to death pursued.
Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou my God would die for me?
Here’s another by John Newton that’s helped me greatly…
In
evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.
I saw
One hanging on a tree,
In agony and blood,
Who fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.
Sure,
never to my latest breath,
Can I forget that look;
It seemed to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.
My
conscience felt and owned the guilt,
And plunged me in despair,
I saw my sins His blood had spilt,
And helped to nail Him there.
A
second look He gave, which said,
“I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou mayst live.”
Thus,
while His death my sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.
With
pleasing grief, and mournful joy,
My spirit now is fill'd,
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live by Him I kill'd!
Let’s treasure the cross, beloved. And here’s an important way to show we do.
3. Will you help others come to know Him this week? Let’s talk to our neighbors about the cross. Let’s invite them into one of our homes on Good Friday. That’s what our Good Friday Neighborhood Bible studies are all about, to help others come to know the truth about the cross that we so cherish. It’s perhaps the only day that some are even thinking about the cross, so let’s make the most of the opportunity to make our Savior known.
**Note:
This is an unedited manuscript of a message preached at
[1] This message has been adapted from an earlier study at WBC in an expository series in the Gospel of Mark.
[2] Barclay, p. 263
[3] Kent Hughes, p. 82.
[4] Taken from W. Barclay, p. 266.
[5] J. D. Jones, p. 400.
[6] Matthew’s account states that once in the temple, the blind and the lame came to Jesus, and He healed them (Matt. 21:14). He also records the response of the chief priests and scribes, stating, “They became indignant (Matt. 22:15).”
[7] J. D. Jones, p. 401.