Hello, you're listening to Second City Sermons,
a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.
This epiphany in Lent, we're back in the Gospels,
specifically the Gospel of Mark. We are seeing
the revelation of God in Jesus. Mark is showing
us the true King becomes a servant for us. He
says right at the heart, the Son of Man came
not to be served, but to serve and to give his
life as a ransom for many. And Mark is nearly
always asking his audience, what do you make
of that? So what do you make of this good news?
We'd love to meet you, and we hope you'll consider
coming and joining with us each Sunday morning
at 10 a .m. in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg.
You can find us online at secondcitychurch .org
and on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. We hope
you enjoy this sermon. God bless. Now I'd like
to invite you to open up your Bibles to Mark
chapter 11. If you don't have a Bible, grab one
in the pew in front of you. If you don't have
a Bible, please take it home. If you have a friend
that you know that might want a Bible, please
take it home, give it to them. You are always
welcome to take those Bibles with you. So we
just heard from the Gospel of Matthew, the events
that are going to take place later on in that
first Holy Week with the events that take place
there in Jerusalem. Mostly we heard of what will
happen on that first Monday Thursday when the
Lord gives them the new commandment that they
love one another and then the events of Good
Friday But of course that week begins with this
entry of Jesus into the into Jerusalem that we've
sort of reenacted in a way together this morning
We've been in the gospel of Mark the last few
months and so I thought this morning maybe we
can spend a little bit of time reflecting on
that entry into Jerusalem from the Gospel of
Mark. So that's Mark chapter 11, verses 1 to
11. I'm going to read it again for us, read it
for us this morning. on which no one has ever
sat. Untie it and bring it in. If anyone says
to you, why are you doing this? Say, the Lord
has need of it and we'll send it back here immediately.
And they went away and found a colt tied at a
door outside in the street and they untied it.
And some of those standing there said to them,
what are you doing and tying 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 to the temple.
And when he had looked around at everything,
as it was already late, he went out to Bethany
with the twelve. All right. So here is the triumphal
entry that Palms Sunday long ago when Jesus entered
into Jerusalem and would make his way to the
cross that week. This is what we have from Mark.
And I think there's a few things that are happening
that we don't. really quite expect. And since
Mark is actually telling us a few things that
I don't think we would quite expect, I want to
present it to you in a way that you might not
expect. And what I want to do is I want to take
it from the end to the beginning, okay? I'm going
to say three main things and they're going to
begin at the end. You know, Mary Poppins, that's
not the right place. It's supposed to start at
the very beginning. But we're going to start
at the end and we're going to make our way to
the beginning, okay? And I want us to kind of
look at this text a little bit with the idea
of what it's Jesus' perspective. What's Jesus
seeing and hearing and intending? Okay. So first,
what is he seeing? And the first thing I want
us to say is that Jesus is examining our places
of worship. He's examining our places of worship.
Verse 11 seems like a strange little odd detail.
I said that there's sort of some odd things that
are happening here. I thought this was really
interesting as I kind of looked at this passage.
It stood out to me that at the end we're given
this little section. It just says this, and he
entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. When
he looked around at everything, as it was already
late, he went out to Bethany with the 12th. And
we can confidently say that Mark intends for
this to be part of the narrative of the triumphal
entry of that first Palm Sunday. This is an important
detail that Mark wants you to see and wants me
to see. And I can say it fairly confidently because
one of the things that we see in this short verse
right here, is a literary device that Mark has
often used already that we've seen this spring,
this Latin word inclusio, you know, which means
the inclusion, the beginning and the end are
the same thing, which is a clue for you to say,
hey, take this together. This belongs together.
And so there at the beginning of the text in
verse one, we have Bethany mentioned there at
the end of the text, we have Bethany mentioned.
That's why Mark was saying, hey, if you want
to read well, take this as part of this same
thing, which I don't know. That seems kind of
strange. This is a little thing. Jesus goes into
Jerusalem. He goes to the temple and he looks
around at everything. He goes, well, it's late.
Might as well go back. What's going on here?
I'm saying that he is looking and he's examining
our places of worship. He goes into Jerusalem.
He goes to the temple. He looks at everything.
And my guess is that you likely know that the
temple was the center place, the center focal
place, both architecturally and socially of Jerusalem.
It was the main attraction if you were to go
to Jerusalem. It still actually is the main attraction
if you go to Jerusalem, the Temple Mount there.
So of course it would make sense to go there.
It's sort of like our own mountains and things.
The main attractions, they say a lot about us.
What happens there says a lot about sort of what
we do in a given place, where we put our energy
and our time and our hopes and desires and all
this kind of thing. Think of our own city here,
Harrisburg. The capital is the large building.
It's rather beautiful driving across the Harvey
Taylor. seeing it looming large there and how
much it actually influences for good and for
ill our city how our city ebbs and flows with
the capital involvement many of you would not
even live here if it weren't for the capital
being present of course think about the towering
buildings of the financial district of a city
like new york city or think of lincoln financial
stadium in philly how much it gives identity
to the people hopes and aspirations and desires
and dreams right Not just that they're the main
attraction they actually are reflections on us
and what happens in these spaces are reflections
upon In many ways you could actually say in some
regard these are modern houses of worship power
and money strength and beauty The normal things
of desire and hope But think with me, okay, we're
not gonna look at all this but some of you will
know this text Just in just in this chapter alone
mark chapter 11 We could see very quickly if
we kept reading that Jesus Goes back to the temple
and he turns over the tables He drives the money
changers out mark doesn't tell us this but elsewhere
we can read that he had had the whip, you know
He's driving them out And then actually in the
same chapter, we can see the scribes and the
Pharisees challenging his authority. I think
right there in this chapter, there's a further
engagement at the temple with money and power.
Money and power. If we read the next chapter,
chapter 12, we could hear him give the parable
of the talents, which again has to do with what
you've been given, right? And then be questioned
actually right afterwards. about paying taxes
to Caesar, the coin, the money that's reflecting
power and authority, politics. Jesus isn't just
going to the temple because, I don't know, where
else should I walk around? I guess I've made
it. Let's do some sightseeing. He's examining
our place of worship. Which is to say he is examining
where we place our hopes, right? Where are we
placing our loves? What holds maybe the possibility
of something new to come? We would do well to
allow the Lord to examine our places of worship,
right? Our places where we're placing hope. Maybe
to come into our homes and into our hearts and
into our wallets and into the rest and look around
a little bit Where are they placing their hopes
and their desires and Frankly like it's if truth
be told We are not very different than this original
dynamic, right? It is dealing with things like
politics and power and authority and finances
and all the rest These are actually very easily
the same list that we would write today. Places
where we put our hope, our worship. Seems to
be the world we live in, the air we breathe is
the same air they breathe. The water that we
swim in was the water they swam in. These are
all telling us the same thing that we grab for
our hope and for our worship. Okay, so Jesus
looks and he sees these things. He examines them.
But the previous narrative doesn't have him so
much examining but listening, okay so It's the
first so the last narrative has to do with Jesus
looking the first the middle narrative has to
do with Jesus hearing and I want us to Just title
this little section middle section Jesus hearing
our cries to save which is also coming at actually
our desires right in our hopes so Yeah, this
little section and really this is probably I
mean really if you want to put it down It's it's
more or less just verse 9 and 10 Which is really
kind of odd because we think of the cries of
those Anna as the primary kind of thing that's
happening the text But mark actually just give
us a little bit But I want to give you a little
context because what would have happened really
is that thousands and thousands Thousands of
people would have been surrounding and making
their way into Jerusalem the crowds there in
Jerusalem for any festival would have been significant
We don't really really know an exact number of
how many people lived in Jerusalem at the time
of Jesus a good estimate is around 50 ,000 people
so, you know, by the way, that's largely just
the Exact it's a little bit smaller than the
bound the official boundary of the city of Harrisburg
but about 50 ,000 and we aren't exactly sure
and But we think actually that when these festivals
would happen for any festival that might swell
to twice that But for Passover most people think
that would have that would have swollen to about
three times that So, okay, you've got that city
that's used to having you know, 50 ,000 people
and also most likely There's around 150 ,000
people in and around Jerusalem. It makes more
sense why they would have been out in Bethany,
which would have been about two miles away from
the temple. It'd be like from here to Italian
Lake, about two miles away. People would have
not been able to stay in the city. And so they're
coming in and going out and all this kind of
thing. So it would have been undoubtedly true
that crowds would have constantly been going
out and around the city. But what's also true
and we get the little glimpse of this we actually
heard some of this even in our narrative What
would have also been true because of this is
that we would have they would have been more
police patrolling police Roman soldiers, right?
They would have been wondering because what would
so often happen is that the times of festivals
would have been the times of religious riots
I mean, these are the stories that gave identity
to the people of God. They were the ones that
were brought out from slavery, brought to freedom,
and now they're under the control of another
ruler, Rome itself, Caesar. Anyway, there's little
to no question that when crowds shouted out,
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. What
they wanted was, well, What was reflected in
the temple? Power. David, a new king. Politics.
Greater authority. Our king. Not these other
would -be pilots and all the rest. What they
wanted was for the kingdom to come in the same
ways that we are all so often desiring. Save
us by these things of strength. finances, and
all the rest. Hosanna is not just a shout of
praise. What I'm saying is that it's actually
a call for hope. It's reflective of our hopes
and our desires. We kind of shout it as a praise
thing. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna means
save us. Save us. And Jesus has just looked upon
their temple. and seen that the people of God
themselves are looking for their salvation in
the same way that the world has always looked
for. Strength, power, money. So Jesus goes into
the temple to examine their place of worship,
which is their place of hope. Here in the middle,
they are hearing their cries, save us, which
is a cry of hope. And they're all bound up in
this power play. Maybe this will be our time.
Maybe this will be our time and our day when
we get our man on the throne. Fact is that Jesus
knows their inclinations and frankly He knows
our inclinations. He knows their hopes. He knows
our hopes. He knows what they worship. He knows
what we're inclined to worship. He knows that
they are inclined to run after the throne. Maybe
we're inclined to run after the White House.
We're inclined to run after beauty and bank accounts
and all the rest. He knows that they thought,
just like we thought, that the way up is the
way up. Get on the pedestal. Make a name for
yourself. Go viral. Then your life will have
meaning. And yet, no doubt knowing that this
is the way of our hearts, the first movement,
which has actually the bulk of this passage,
is Jesus telling us that the way up is the way
down. Glory comes through humility, resurrection
through the cross. So at the end, I said, he
looks around, right? He examines our places of
worship. In the middle, this little middle section,
He's hearing our cries for salvation, which is
to say our hopes and our desires. But in this
first section, which is the bulk of our text
from Mark, of what happened that Palm Sunday
long ago, he's actually instructing us in the
true way of salvation. Okay, so I said that there
were a few odd things that sort of stood out
to me. When I was reading this passage this week,
one of them was like I mentioned that he goes
to the temple. It's a little detail that seems
So small and easy to go over but actually it's
important for mark And then I thought well another
really strange thing is how short of a time we
are given of the actual Like procession itself
and the cries. It's not a lot of time. There's
two verses here But the other thing that really
really stood out to me Is that mark gives us
so much detail? About getting this cult this
little donkey cult He puts so much emphasis on
this Of course overall what we see is that Jesus
is the one in control and That he wants this
whole procession done in a way that he under
he wants to communicate something content They
say his intent behind it. He's instructing us
in who he is and what his salvation looks like
right? He's orchestrating it That's supposed
to be a big, big theme here. There's a divine
orchestration taking place. The only words in
this whole story from our Lord himself are the
words of how, where to get the donkey. And what
to do about it, which just seems so odd. Why
not speak to all these crowds who are gathered,
who are shouting hosannas? Why not say something
when you're looking around the temple? Hey guys,
I'm gonna be back tomorrow. I'm gonna be flipping
some tables. You better be there. I don't know
something else instead the only words we get
from our Lord in this passage Donkey The details
of course that that do Tell us about his divinity
in a way. He's seeing things that the normal
human would not see He gives us details like
it's tied up outside. That would have been different
actually Donkeys wouldn't have typically been
tied up outside of buildings. I didn't know that
until I read that this week. It hadn't been written.
That was a detail that he said. And his disciples
wouldn't have known that. He knew that. And all
these details, they really, they matter for who
he's trying to communicate himself as. He's trying
to instruct us. The Mishnah, which is the writing
down of the oral Jewish tradition, said that
only kings could ride an unwritten horse. So
an unwritten donkey would have been kind of a
declaration of royalty. Jesus entering into the
great city of David on an animal itself would
have been a declaration of royalty. Jesus just
Jesus response to the questions the men are asking
right? Why are you doing this their response?
What was the Lord has needed? That would have
been a declaration of royalty Jesus Is kind of
through all this he's saying I am the king I'm
the one who actually sees things that you don't
even understand who's orchestrating this in a
way that is going to communicate Here is the
king entering So for all this that speaks to
our hopes for salvation and all the rest, one
thing that he is saying is, hey, this came to
you that you were desiring. This is me. And yet
he's doing it in a way that's also head scratching.
This isn't how it's supposed to be. Not if powers
come the ways that we think power comes. One
of the things that is most intent, one of the
things that Jesus is most intent on is that it
is this donkey, this colt. Matthew and John make
clear for us what Mark only kind of alludes to
here, and that Jesus is making good on this prophecy
of Zechariah that we heard Nicole read for us
earlier from the Old Testament reading. Zechariah
9 says this, say to the daughters of Zion, behold
your King is coming to you. That's what Jesus
is saying, I'm coming to you and I'm the King.
Then Zechariah says this, humble. Everybody else
wants the pomp and circumstance, right? Shout!
Take down Pilate! Do away with Caesar! Come with
fanfare! Jesus says, I'm a king, but fulfilling
Zechariah 9, humble, mounted on a donkey, on
a colt, the full of a beast of burden. inside
cover of your bulletin there's a quote there
from Martin Luther it says this look at him he
rides no stallion which is a war animal and he
comes not with feral pomp and power but sits
on a donkey which is no war animal but which
is ready for burdens of work that will help human
beings There but thereby he shows that he does
not come to terrify people to drive or oppress
them But to help them to carry their burdens
and take them on himself Your king is coming
Now your hope is here what Jesus is saying your
king is coming your hope is here the true object
of your worship is me. But I'm not what you expect.
Zechariah says he's humble. That is more of a
quote from the Greek Septuagint which does use
the word humble, but actually the Hebrew word
actually there in Zechariah is often translated
afflicted. mounted on a donkey. He comes way
down. Not as the beast of battle, the horse,
but the beast of burden, the donkey. Friends,
this is our savior. This is how he wants you
to understand what he is doing. He is not like
the other saviors that you so often run to, that
I so often run to, that we all do. All of those
are saying that the more you have, the more you'll
get. Grab. Take. He's unlike our would -be saviors.
He's unlike the places where we so often go for
worship. And the places of power, the places
of pomp and circumstance, and look at me. Now
Jesus says and he's going to be enacting this
of course throughout the week, but he begins
it right here He says the way up is the way down
The way to glory is through humility of Philippians
chapter 2 My throne will come after my affliction
Right here He is setting us. He's setting us
up. This is where I'm headed. I'm telling you,
this is the good news of Christ, but it's also
frankly what God invites you into. He who would
gain his life must lose it. This is the way the
world really works. We think it works the opposite
way. Jesus says, no. I'm coming to you humble,
afflicted. I'm a king that goes low before I
go up. And he says, follow me in it. Follow me
in it. What we're going to see, of course, through
this week as we gather together, as we gather
on Monday, Thursday, is the Lord actually takes
the place of the servant, right? Washing his
disciples' feet. He will make his way to the
cross, the place of the thief and the murderer,
taking our sins upon himself. All over. This
is our Lord telling us, instructing us who He
is and the right object of worship. That the
King of glory comes and He comes humbly, lowly
afflicted for us. Let me pray for us. Lord, we
come to this text in Mark and it's so different
than what we might expect. And yet how consistent
it is. With what you teach us and how necessarily
consistent it is because we so often think the
very opposite Jesus this week would you Through
your humility and live in our hearts that we
might walk in your ways with the humble people
Who glory in the reality that we have a crucified
Savior something that would have been humiliating
For anyone living at the time would have been
an absurd claim And it is today too Lord. I pray
that we would find our joy and our life Not in
the places of power But the place of humility
the person of humility and affliction or Jesus
himself whose name we pray Thank you for listening
to second city sermons podcast We hope this sermon
has encouraged you to worship God and to celebrate
the gospel of Jesus. Please consider subscribing
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bless.