Mark 11:1-11

11 As Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. 2 “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks, ‘What are you doing?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it and will return it soon.’”

4 The two disciples left and found the colt standing in the street, tied outside the front door. 5 As they were untying it, some bystanders demanded, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 They said what Jesus had told them to say, and they were permitted to take it. 7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it, and he sat on it.

8 Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! 10  Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!” 11 So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After looking around carefully at everything, he left because it was late in the afternoon. Then he returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples.

Comments

After ten chapters of Jesus trying to keep his ministry a secret, he shifts gears here in chapter 11 and rides into Jerusalem as people are gathering for the Passover feast. He looks every bit the prophet (or old prophet back from the dead) the people think he is. His power to heal and deliver were well-known, as was his authoritative teaching. Not everyone praising him here thought he was the Messiah, but most probably thought he was at least a great prophet. He was living proof that Yahweh still cared about them, had not abandoned them to Roman rule. So they shout “Hosanna” over and over, which means, “save now,” both praise and petition in the same word. They worship prophetically because that is precisely what Jesus had come for, to bring salvation now. And he still does. What would it look like for Jesus to work some “save now” into your life? I encourage you to spend at least a day with this word, “save now – hosanna,” or as long as it takes for you to really understand and accept that Jesus comes into your life to save now. Always. Hosanna indeed.

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.