This morning I am continuing my reading of Mark's gospel, and the verses I read today cover what is traditionally known as Palm Sunday. I think Mark adds one of the most interesting verses I have read in a long time to the end of His account. Here are the verses - Mark 11:1-11 NIV:
[1] A"s they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, [2] saying to them, “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. [3] If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.' ”
[4] "They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, [5] some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” [6] They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. [7] When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. [8] Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. [9] Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna! ” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” [10] “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
[11] "Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve."
As I was reading these verses this morning my first thought after reading verse eleven is that must be the verse with the most empty anticipation in the whole Bible. Here is Jesus, finally coming to Jerusalem, being proclaimed as the coming King, people are lining the streets and shouting! There is an incredible excitement, for this is what they had been waiting 300+ years to see, the coming of the Messiah! The city of Jerusalem must have been stirred up to an incredible level of interest, excitement and anticipation!
Jesus rides the donkey into the city fulfilling the ancient prophecy about the Messiah!
All of the people are waiting to see what He says and does!
They are waiting on Him, straining to hear what He is going to say!
His procession leads to the Temple Courts, the very place that God's anointed would reveal Himself in Glory!
The people can hardly stand it!
Jesus enters the building!
He looks around!
He sees that it is late and turns around and walks out without saying or doing anything!
I can just imagine the startled, questioning looks the people must have had on their faces! I am sure the disciples were equally confused! They all still thought that Jesus was going to establish a New Kingdom, and the parade was basically supposed to announce that was imminent, and instead Jesus walks out.
Wow! Talk about underwhelming!
So the question in my mind is why did this happen? Why did Mark, under the influence of the Holy Spirit record this strange occurrence? What can I learn from this event?
First, I think it is important to remind myself that Jesus only did and said what the Father did and said (John 6:38; John 12:49, etc). He obeyed the Father in everything He did, and thus the whole entry into Jerusalem, the riding on the colt, were all directed by the Father. They did fulfill scriptural prophecies as well. The people were likely familiar with some of the prophecies and while they knew the text they didn't understand the fullness of God's plan. Pretty much all the people expecting the Messiah, based on the prophecies, were expecting the coming Messiah to become a King like David. Jerusalem was the seat of David's Kingdom, and thus their expectations were seemingly being fulfilled.
Instead we see the Father interrupt the ideas and anticipated events and steer Jesus in a completely different direction, not incongruent with His will or the Prophecies, but unanticipated by the people!
As this theme started to be revealed in my mind, I realized that this is actually quite common, at least in my life! I pray something, and then think I hear something from the Lord in response to my prayer (which should be the normal experience of prayer, for it is supposed to be a 2 way conversation with God) and I think I know what His response means. I start to think through what I think He means and it builds in me an anticipation of His will and purpose. I get things all figured out in my head and then expect the situation to resolve itself the way I think it will.
Instead, I am often amazed at the actual resolution! God meets me in ways that I didn't anticipate, provides for me in new ways, or in deeper ways than I had ever thought! I find that God is not limited to my imagination! Thankfully! Sometimes the difference between what God does and what I thought He was going to do is very significant, other times its pretty similar, some times it is completely different! When it is different, I can sometimes get myself worked into a tizzy, because He hasn't met my expectations! Talk about vain imaginations! Like my thoughts are capable of understanding all the perfect will of God and how I fit into His grand plan!
Anyway to explain this a bit further, I was reminded of the movie "The Karate Kid". In the movie the young boy asks the old Japanese man to teach him Karate, and the old man agrees. The young boy shows up the next day all ready to begin his training and the old man tells him to wax the cars. The next day his training is to paint the fence, then a whole assortment of seemingly unrelated tasks. The boy had this anticipation and expectation of learning to fight and finally confronts the old man in his impatience and imperfect understanding. The old man then shows him how his work has built in him reflexes and strength that He didn't have before. It was a very good example of lack of understanding creating an anticipation and expectation that was unmet!
In the same way, I believe that we are limited in our understanding of God's plans and purposes. We want to think that we understand God's ways. We believe that our understanding is correct, and then when God works it is different than we thought, and sometimes we get our undies in a bunch! We want God to work the way we want Him to work, and when He doesn't we can get offended.
Sometimes it can be for really important things, like praying for sick relatives to be healed! Sometimes it can be for a new job, a new home, a new life, all which are very important to God! We bring our needs before God, and being the good Father that He is, He answers. However, His answer is in line with His will, not with our imaginations and thoughts! I heard a pastor say one time that the problem we people have with God is that He thinks He is God! :-) We want Him to be like us, to think like we think, to do things the way WE expect Him to do them. We don't want Him doing unanticipated things, in unanticipated ways!
My encouragement this morning is to ask God for more understanding! My encouragement is to recognize that I don't often understand what He is doing, ad to be ok with that! My encouragement is to trust that God's ways are perfect and good, even if they are unexpected or unanticipated.
When I look back on my life I see plenty of times that God surprised me with something I would have never thought of on my own. There are times that He completely changed the course of my life, or my direction, and it has only been through trust, obedience and faith that I have followed Him, because it certainly didn't make sense at the time. He has provided far more abundantly that I could ever have dreamed of and led down paths that I would have never chosen, yet which have been full of life and blessings!
My encouragement this morning is to believe that God knows exactly what He is doing, and to entrust myself to Him, regardless of how it looks to me! He is the God of the Impossible, the God of Provision, the God who heals and the God who is good!
Amen and Amen!
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