So children, we have a book in our house called, The Donkey Who Carried a King. It's written by R.C. Sproul, which tells the story of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem from the donkey's perspective. The story begins with a very sad donkey named Davy, whose master never picks him to do anything because he is too young Until one day, two men show up. They begin to untie Davy and they tell his master that the Lord has need of him. The next thing Davy knows, cloaks are thrown on his back and someone comes and sits on him, which is really new for Davy because he has never carried anybody before. And to his great astonishment, as he begins to carry this man, a large crowd suddenly starts laying their coats in palm branches in front of him at Davy's feet. And they're singing, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And it suddenly dawns on Davy. He has been picked for the best donkey job ever. He gets to carry the king. And he proudly then begins to carry the king to the best of his ability through this crowd. Can you imagine how happy Davy was at this moment? Actually, that happiness did not last. Because after he returns home, the next day, the master decides Davy can do regular work now. And the next thing he knows, he has two heavy, scratchy baskets put on his back. And he suddenly finds himself carrying heavy things that he does not enjoy at all. Davy gets really upset because he thinks He should be carrying important people. That's his job. A few days later, Davy stares sad again, feeling sorry for himself about his daily work as he heads into town. And he suddenly hears the noise of another large crowd up ahead. And Davy looks to see what is going on. And he sees the king that he had carried. But the king isn't riding a donkey. The folks actually were not cheering for him anymore. but they were yelling angrily at him. And he had an awful crown of thorns on his head and he was bleeding. And more, the king was carrying something, a heavy wooden beam on his back. So heavy, in fact, it made the king fall down under its great weight. And Davy's heart began to hurt for the king. And he wanted to run over there and help him to carry his burden, but the guy holding the rope wouldn't let him go. And Davy had to watch as they led the king away in great pain and great shame. Davy went home really sad and he went and told old Barnabas the donkey about what had happened to the king. And Barnabas told him that he actually had once carried the king's parents to Bethlehem. And his boy's name, the boy's name was going to be Jesus. And that he'd actually come in the world to save people. He had come to die in order to save humanity. Hearing this, it dawns on Davy that if the King would bear a cross for others, then Davy should not grumble about his burdens, but rather he should follow the King's example. Children, I hope that you see from this story what you are being called to do as Jesus' disciples. You should not grumble about the things you get picked to do if the Lord has need of you. Your King tells you, if you want to be great, you must become last and you must become servant of all. So let's turn to now our Gospel lesson from Mark chapter 11. I'm going to be looking at the first verses of Mark 11, but I want to read actually the story that comes right before this, starting in chapter 10, verse 46. Mark 10, starting in verse 46, now hear the Word of the Lord. And they came to Jericho, and as He, Jesus, was leaving Jericho with His disciples in a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. And many rebuked Him, telling Him to be silent. But He cried out all the more, "'Son of David, have mercy on Me!' Jesus stopped and said, "'Call Him.' And they called the blind man, saying to him, "'Take heart, get up, He is calling you.' And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, "'What do you want Me to do for you?' And the blind man said to Him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight." And Jesus said to him, Go your way, your faith has saved you. And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied upon which no one has ever sat. untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, why are you doing this? Say, the Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately. And they went away and found a colt tied at the door outside in the street and they untied it. And some were staying there said to them, what are you doing untying the colt? And they told them what Jesus had said and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, 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! And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we come to you as those who are truly needy and those who do not yet see you clearly enough. Give us eyes to see your Son, Jesus, and give us hearts that understand and trust in your word and trust in our King. Have mercy on us and leave not one heart here unchanged. We pray for Jesus' sake. Amen. I will admit that for most of my life I have had a different picture in mind than what Mark describes here. Many Palm Sunday sermons that I've heard describe Jerusalem folks all celebrating Jesus' entry. And they typically end then with this warning about wavering hearts, We're told that the same crowd cheering Jesus on Palm Sunday will be the same ones chanting, crucify Him, just a few days later. But Mark gives us a different perspective on this triumphal scene. We can see this as the triumphal entry, but it is a pilgrim celebration. We have no evidence in any Gospel that Jerusalem folks cheer Jesus. In Matthew, when Jesus does arrive with His cheering fellow pilgrims, Jerusalem is all stirred up and their only response is, who is this? In Luke, all we hear is Jesus weeping as He enters Jerusalem. Mark shows it is the pilgrims heading to Jerusalem who are going there to celebrate Passover who actually begin to praise Jesus and sing to Him. It may well be that none of these pilgrims crying, Hosanna now, are part of that Jerusalem crowd crying, crucify Him. You see, Mark has shown Jerusalem to be a place to fear ever since chapter 3. It's the place where all of Jesus' greatest opponents are. Pharisees, Herodians, scribes. It's filled with all kinds of folks who do not want the Kingdom of God to come in Jesus' person. And we will see in the rest of this Gospel, Jesus confronting a hostile Jerusalem. The last third of Mark is the final week of Jesus' life. and the great victory He wins by losing. The victory He wins by losing. And as we transition to this final act, Jesus is finally revealing now His true identity to folks. Throughout the Gospel, Mark, folks have struggled to see who Jesus is. Any time that someone has rightly identified Jesus, Jesus tells them to shut up, keep it under wraps. Demons proclaim Jesus to be the Holy One of God, and Jesus shuts them up. When Jesus asks His disciples in chapter 8 who folks say who He is, they tell Him that everyone thinks Jesus is a prophet, like Elijah, like John the Baptist. He's just a prophet. But after Jesus then prods them for an answer, Peter says, you are the Christ, the Anointed One. And then Jesus says, shut up, don't say anything. Stop there. By the way, that proper identification there of Peter's comes right after the healing of a blind man. That's why I revisited our Jericho scene from the last sermon. Because a blind man clearly sees who Jesus is when he cries out, Son of David. Bartimaeus cries out publicly that Jesus is the anointed King. And surprisingly here, Jesus does not tell him to keep quiet. Rather, Jesus calls the crowd's attention to this blind man. The one man who ironically sees that Jesus is more than just a prophet. Jesus is saying to everyone here, all these pilgrims, do you see the glory that Bartimaeus sees? Do you see why I have called Bartimaeus to be my disciple? This is a call to discipleship, by the way. Three times we hear the word call. I am calling Bartimaeus to be my disciple and to follow me. Bartimaeus sees the one heading to the city of David is the heir to David's throne. Bartimaeus' testimony becomes this first catalyst for the triumphal entry scene, this first spark fanning the proclamation of David's kingdom as Jesus heads to Jerusalem. In this final week of Jesus' life, He is no longer going to hide His identification. Jesus is proclaiming, I am King and I am bringing in the Kingdom of God. No surprise. He does this actually by retracing the path of Joshua. By the way, Joshua's name is Jesus. Joshua's name is Jesus. That's why he starts his conquest at Jericho. Joshua's first victory as he comes into the Promised Land. Jesus is announcing to all these pilgrims who are heading to Jerusalem, see clearly that I am Joshua. See clearly that I am the Davidic heir. And by the way, I especially want folks like this beggar to follow me on the way. I want folks like this beggar as I bring in the victory. Jesus wants them to see that He is making disciples of those who are poor and lowly. Wouldn't that be confusing? A discouraging if you're one of the 12 disciples here. They see Rome, they see the Herodians as powerful enemies they want driven from the land. And earlier in the previous chapter, Jesus just refused to accommodate some rich, powerful guy who probably could have helped the cause. He chooses to recruit blind Bartimaeus, the beggar. Maybe he's not blind anymore, but he's still a beggar. This is the way Jesus keeps saying, my kingdom comes. When the least and the last are picked. It's sort of like a backward schoolyard pick. You remember those in elementary school? You'd have two captains, and they're looking over everybody in the crowd, and, oh, you're big, you're fast, you're strong, I pick you, I pick you, and they look over those who are weak, the last, those who are slow. The little guys get passed over again and again, and you hate to be that guy, right? But Jesus, He picks out everybody you wouldn't want on the team. That's who He starts with. He's saying, you get to be on the winning team. Not because of what you bring to the team. No, but because I am gracious and I want you to share in the victory that I and only I can bring in. My disciples, they've been struggling to understand Jesus' strategy. Just as they've struggled to see and identify who Jesus is. It seems Jesus is very resolute in making sure that His prophecy will come true. Jesus had just told them for the third time He's heading to Jerusalem. And when He meets the enemy, He's going to be mocked, He's going to be spit on, He's going to be flogged, and then He'll be killed. That would be hard. It's kind of like hearing William Wallace in the movie Braveheart saying on one hand what they hope to hear, But then Jesus keeps adding, and they're going to wipe the floor with me. And He keeps doing everything He can to ensure that this outcome happens. Although chapter 11 brings new opportunity for the disciples to see Jesus rightly so they can understand His kingdom. They arrive at Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives and Jesus calls two of the disciples to Him and He says, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, why are you doing this? Say, the Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately. I can't help but wonder if the two disciples here, James and John, remember how they were trying to con Jesus into promising them the two top spots in his kingdom? Now Jesus asked two disciples to go fetch him a donkey. We don't know for sure which two, but whoever this is, this is quite the humbling mission. First, think about being sent to go fetch a young, unbroken donkey who's completely unfamiliar with you. And donkeys are stubborn animals. And if they don't choose to go where you want them to go, it is very hard to move them, to lead them anywhere. I actually did a little research about raising donkeys. Apparently you have to spend a lot of time with them getting to know them if you want them to actually obey you. I actually read of a blog of a guy over in Ohio who regrets more than anything buying these two donkeys because they are so stubborn. Raising donkeys is the worst. He talks about how coaxing and food bribes don't work. So in order to get one to move, because he had to get it to move, he actually tied it to his four-wheeler. But the stubborn donkey simply locked its legs and he had to drag it the six feet just to get it out of the way. I kind of wondered if Pete had seen what this guy wrote. But my point is, the disciples themselves felt like donkeys here. They felt like Davy. Because their Master picked them to do a tough, humbling job. But actually what is more important here, this is a cult of faith. Jesus tells them to go to the next town, and when they see this donkey, to go and untie it. And if anyone asks what they're doing, all they've got to say is, the Lord has need of it. And it'll be all cool. It'll be good. How strong would your faith be if Jesus asked you to go down to a grape road onto one of the car lots over there, go in the office, you know, and you're going to see a set of keys laying on the desk, and to grab those keys to get into a new car and to drive it back to church. And if anybody says to you, what are you doing? Just tell them, don't worry, it's not for me. The Lord has need of it. How many of you would like this sort of faith test? But beloved, we can trust Jesus' Word in everything He calls us to do. No matter how difficult the obstacle Jesus sets in front of you, no matter how humbling, no matter how impossible it seems, you can trust Jesus, obey His Word, and it will work out. Because that is exactly what happens here. These disciples head off to this town not knowing for sure what they're going to find. And lo and behold, they find this unbroken donkey. just like Jesus said. And as they begin to untie it, some folks ask what they're doing and they say, don't worry, the Lord has need of it, we'll bring it right back. And the folks say, oh, it's for the Lord, take it, go ahead. How would this be for a faith builder? Not just that we can walk out of this place tonight trusting in every promise of Jesus, but more, we see that Jesus is King. Jesus is Lord of all. That's the point of this text. Jesus is making it unmistakable that all things belong to Him and all things are under His control. King Jesus is not just Lord over the donkeys. Jesus is Lord over the hearts of these people who say, take the donkey, it's fine. I know there's all kinds of theories actually, suggesting that Jesus set this up beforehand. Some speculate the donker's owner was simply following Jesus and said, hey, Jesus, I have a donkey in the next town. But you cannot read Mark and miss his intention here. Mark fully believes in Jesus' omniscience. He knows everything and his omnipotence that he's all-powerful. Mark made Jesus' divine omniscience clear back in chapter 2 when he showed that Jesus knew exactly the questions going on in men's hearts. More to the point, Mark's purpose here is to highlight Jesus' power. How Jesus is not just proclaiming that He is the Davidic King. He is the sovereign Lord over all creation. When Jesus wants something to happen, it will happen. The disciples saw Jesus was the Lord of all nature when He calmed the storm, when He calmed the sea. So consider now how Jesus actually puts this more on display here for these pilgrims who are all going to Jerusalem, who see Jesus. Imagine what they witness when the disciples bring this unbroken donkey up to Jesus. It has never been ridden before. That's Mark's point when they're throwing these cloaks over it. It's a makeshift saddle. And then everyone watches as Jesus prepares to mount this donkey. Can any of you be first in line to mount an unbroken donkey that has never been ridden before? Kids, this is actually the part of the story from Davy's story that was missing from the book. Davy would not have been eager to carry a man. But Davy knows and obeys his Lord. And better than we do, quite frankly. Davy knows that this is no ordinary man, but the One who created him. And notice, Jesus also calms Davy's heart, because this would have been a very scary moment for a donkey. Imagine being Davy as you're suddenly being ridden for the first time, and suddenly there's an excited crowd all around you, yelling and hollering, throwing blanches and cloaks right in your path. This ought to make a donkey pretty scared and skittish, right? But we see Davy trusts his King, trusts his Creator Lord. And this crowd would be going nuts as they see Jesus' Lordship on full display here. First, Jesus tames an unbroken donkey and rides it triumphantly. But more, Jesus is doing something nobody else here would do. Everyone walks to Jerusalem at Passover. Walking is the whole point. It's a pilgrimage. But Jesus says, I cannot walk this time because the time for hiding my identity is over. Jesus is making His kingship explicit like Solomon did in his coronation in 1 Kings 1. Like Solomon, Jesus rides a donkey as He makes His way to Jerusalem. This crowd would also see the picture of the coming King prophesied in Zechariah 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you, righteous and having salvation as He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations. His rule shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope, Today I declare that I will restore to you double, for I have bent Judah as my bow, I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior's sword." These pilgrims are stirred up because they are seeing Jesus' explicit claim to kingship. He's come to bring in this long-awaited kingdom and to defeat all of their enemies. which is why they begin to sing a very political, a very nationalistic psalm, Psalm 118. In Psalm 118, you hear the voice of the Davidic king leading worship after a battle triumph. And the people by association with this king, they also are delivered as well. And the people's part in this psalm is where they say, Hosanna, which is a prayer meaning, save us. After which they say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, And then the temple priests would respond by saying, we bless you from the house of the Lord. And they're on their way to the temple, which is where Jesus is heading to. So they sing in confidence of the coming of David's kingdom. But Mark does not put the King's part of Psalm 118 on Jesus' lips. Jesus had made very sure that His arrival was going to be noticed, but He does not respond to this royal acclamation. And this is because Jesus has not yet won the victory. Jesus is silent. Silent in this text. Because while He is the sovereign King who will save, He's not going to save His people as they expect, as they want. This is an upside down kingdom. The verse following that priestly blessing in Psalm 118 is verse 27. It says, The Lord is God and He has made His light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords up to the horns of the altar." That next line tells us the victory comes after the festal sacrifice. The festal sacrifice is the last of the sacrifices and is actually the only one the worshipers partake of. It is the sacrifice that brings peace between God and men. It is the sacrifice that Davy the donkey saw when he saw the king bearing the cross. When the king exercised his authority, not by lording it over his subjects, but by giving his life as a ransom for many. Do you see the glory of this king? He was at the very top, above each and every one of us infinitely. Yet He came all the way down to bear, to take up the burden, the ones that we could never even begin to bear. This is what true kingship is all about. As one translation of Philippians 2 puts it, He had equal status with God, but didn't think so much of Himself that He had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, He set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human. Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life, and then died a selfless, obedient death, and the worst kind of death at that, a crucifixion. because of that obedience. God lifted Him high and honored Him far beyond anyone or anything ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth, even those long ago dead and buried, will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ and call out in praise that He is Master of all to the glorious honor of God the Father. We see Jesus is the King worthy of all our worship, and He has now received a new glory But to reach that glory, Jesus had to become, that other verse in Psalm 119, the stone that the builders rejected. And this rejection we see in our final verse, verse 11, as Jesus enters a hostile Jerusalem. And we have no hint that anyone greets their King. And He entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when He looked around at everything, as it was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve. And we don't hear any more about the pilgrim crowd either. What happened to them? Did they lose interest in Jesus when He didn't show Himself to be the kind of King that they wanted? I don't know. The only thing we do see is that there is no place for Jesus in Jerusalem. So He heads back to Bethany with the twelve. but not until he looks around at everything in the temple. And Mark uses this verb, he's about the only guy who ever uses it, that talks about looking intently with great personal interest. It shows Jesus seeing our world and understanding our condition, even when men reject Him as their King. And Jesus will exercise His authority in a most selfless way, And He will return to finish the fight that He started by losing. By losing all. By losing all so that we here 2,000 years later might gain everything. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Children, our catechism asks, how does Christ execute the office of a king? Christ executes the office of a king in subduing us to Himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies. We see in this text that our King is all-powerful. And as we move on in Mark, we're going to see that He has done all to save us from all of our real enemies, sin, death, and the devil. And even today, He continues to protect us. So we need to accept His rule over our lives. We need to be willing to be obedient to all that He calls us to do and be. And the question for us as we leave here is whether we have fully appropriated this royal proclamation, this royal announcement, have we appropriated what it means that Jesus is our King, that He is ruling and defending us, and He has taken care of all of our true enemies. Not that we have to serve Him, but that we get to serve Him, a true King, who has all authority and yet has been so selfless to save, whose reign right now you may struggle to see in your life. But we can trust His promise that soon we're going to have 20-20 vision just like Bartimaeus. And one day all our difficulties and burdens today will make sense. And they'll even make more sense even now if you start looking to see Him in your life and how He's working. And praising Him for who He is even when you don't understand. Ask yourself what it would mean for you tomorrow morning If you woke up and believed that serving King Jesus was the most glorious thing you ever got to do, that His rule and reign over your life was the greatest gift that could ever be given to you, if you believe that, then you will have no problem putting everything you have at His disposal, your property, your spouse, your children, your very life, your donkey, even when it puzzles you and doesn't make sense. because if the Lord says He has need of it, then He has every right and He can use it best, better than you can. When we believe Jesus' reign over us is the greatest privilege, we will find it a joy to honor Him in our lives, in our marriage, with our possessions. We'll find it a joy to bear the burdens He places before us, especially to help out those who are weak and in need, those who are poor, those who are helpless in this age, Those who love Jesus. Those who Jesus loves. We'll stop fretting now over those who seem to have great power or might be getting power. Stop trying to find our security and our identity in politics, ethnicity, status markers of any kind. Because the only status that matters is we are citizens of King Jesus and we belong to His Kingdom. you're actually going to discover you're the best kind of subject for this temporal world that there can be. Beloved, remember who you are, and remember who you belong to. Jesus sees you, He understands you, and He has taken great personal interest in each and every one of you. And He invites you to trust Him, take up your cross, and follow Him to glory. Amen? Gracious Father, how we thank You that You have transferred us out of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of Your beloved Son in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. And we come to You this night confessing that we have not always enjoyed or truly appropriated the privilege of what it means to be citizens of Your Kingdom, to have such a wonderful King, King Jesus, who reigns over us and yet does it so selflessly. Heavenly Father, we ask and pray that as we have heard Your Word, that this Word will take root in our hearts and that as we leave this place, we may have eyes to see Jesus Christ and His reign over our lives and that we will obey, that we will obey, that we will come to understand all the things that You're calling us to do and be and take these things up and not have the attitude that these are things we have to do, but things that we get to do, stir up the love, our first love, for you, for Jesus, for the spirits working our lives, that we may go out of here and that we might share the Good News with others. Lord, there is a dying world out there that doesn't see King Jesus. And I ask and pray You might make us instruments whereby You can show forth the glory of Jesus Christ. And we thank You for this wonderful privilege. Amen.