Well, look with me now to Mark chapter 11, and we are going to turn the page now to the third and final section of Mark's gospel, chapters 11 through 16. This covers the final week of Jesus's life as he enters Jerusalem now and awaits his trial and death on the cross, his burial, and then ultimately his resurrection from the dead three days later. That's what we're beginning now, so as always, please follow along with your Bibles or listen as I read this for us. This is Mark chapter 11, and I'm going to read the first 11 verses. 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 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 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 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 had looked around at everything, and as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the 12. Let's pray. Jesus, you are the triumphant and praiseworthy king. You are the rightful ruler of all things because you are the maker of all things in heaven and on earth. Indeed, you have all authority and are reigning even now. At the same time, we see from your word that you are the humble king. the suffering servant King, which makes you all the more worthy of our praise because you came to Jerusalem those 2000 years ago, not to be served, but to serve your people by giving your life as a ransom for us and for our salvation. As we consider your word now, may your spirit give us eyes to see and ears to hear. We pray for your blessing on our time together. In Jesus name, amen. Well, how would you expect a conquering king to enter his kingdom victorious? What would you expect him to be, how would he be dressed? What would he have around him? What would it look like? For us, it's hard to picture that time and age. We don't have kings anymore, we don't have kingdoms. Our closest example, we saw the new prince, Prince Charles, who was crowned king. So they had a really incredible coronation and ceremony there. We got to see some of that. It's interesting to see that in our day and age, to see something so historic and so old looking, so majestic looking in many ways. But closer to home for us, maybe the presidential motorcade is one of the most closest examples of this. How do you know when the president's in town? How do you know when he's down the street? The streets are blocked off. There's lights, red and blue lights blaring everywhere. The entire police force is going to be escorting the president in his black SUV. There's going to be plenty of them in this big motorcade. You can't miss it. He's there. We also have examples, obviously, throughout history of other kings that make their grand entrances. Julius Caesar famously, when he crosses the Rubicon, and it's said in the history books that he said, the die is cast as he crossed. And that's the point of no return, but he crossed with his armies. He was marching to war. Very similar to what's happening in our story as well, actually, that Jesus was crossing a Rubicon of sorts. There was no going back as he enters Jerusalem here. But we have these examples that would have been very familiar to the people in this day and age of kings returning from victorious conquest, dressed in their royal garb and their chariot marching through the city gates with their host of armies surrounding them. And oftentimes the king, he would go conquer some people, he would enslave that people group and he'd have this new enslaved population coming behind him in tow. But here we have King Jesus. And what we're going to see, what I hope that we'll see as we look at this passage is his entrance is just as majestic, just as grand as anything else, except in its own way. That's what we've seen throughout Mark's gospel, is it not? We've seen how Jesus always, he's subverting expectations. His kingdom is an upside-down kingdom. It's not the way that we expect it to be, but it's nonetheless praiseworthy, majestic, grand, holy, wonderful, all of these things. That's what we see here with Jesus. So I want to look at Jesus as king. This is the king entering the kingly city, entering Jerusalem, the city of David. So I want to look at this passage, looking at two things in particular. First, looking at the character of this humble Messiah king. And then, after we look at his character, we'll look at the appropriate response to this king, which is praise, unending praise. So first, the humble king, and then second, the praiseworthy king. But first, let's consider Jesus' humility here. Why was this event so significant? Why are we reading in this gospel, and we read in the other gospels as well, all this detail and information about this donkey? Why does he have this plan to go and get this colt of the donkey here? Well, before we get to that, let's discuss how we got here and this point of the story. Jesus is now at the end of his three-year ministry, and we have the other Gospels that help fill the gaps and put the pieces together here. But now in Mark's account, we are nearing the end. This is the beginning of the third and final part of Mark's story, Mark's gospel account. And if you've been with us from the beginning, you'll remember that we've talked about each of these three parts. The first part of Mark's gospel asking the question, who is this Jesus that's come onto the scene as he's ministering in and around Galilee? Who is this Jesus? And he's performing and demonstrating his power, performing miracles, speaking with authority. Who is this guy? The second part of the gospel answers that question definitively, as we get into chapters eight through 10. The question's answered. Who is Jesus? Well, Jesus is the Christ. He's the Messiah. And Peter declares that. You are the Christ. On the mount there of Caesarea Philippi, and then we see the transfiguration as well. Jesus is the Christ. That first question's answered, but that raises another question. What does it mean to be the Messiah? What does it mean to be the Christ? They're expecting a conquering king who would cast out foreign rule out of the city of Jerusalem. But Jesus did not come to be served in that way, but rather we see at the chapter 10, verse 45, he came to serve, to give up his life as a ransom for many. That's why throughout that middle section, Jesus is constantly telling his disciples, this is what I've come to do. I've come to die, I've come to bear my cross. And if you're to follow me, you must bear your cross as well. You must deny yourself as I'm denying myself. That's the middle section. What it means to be a disciple. What it means that Jesus is the Christ. Now we get to the third section. This triumphant section, this climactic ending of the story. Jesus has taught them what it means to be his disciples, what it means for him to be the Christ, and now we get to see that happen. How does Jesus become king? That's the question that is woven throughout this final section of Mark's gospel. How does Jesus become king? He becomes king through the cross. It's going to happen exactly the way that Jesus had said it was going to happen. So Jesus, he arrives now at Bethany. Bethany is about two miles from Jerusalem. And he was coming down the road from Jericho that we saw last week. He heals the blind Bartimaeus there by Jericho. He's coming down from that road. He's arriving now at Bethany. And the news is spreading that Jesus and his disciples are making their way to the city, to Jerusalem. And we learn from John's gospel that at Bethany is where Jesus healed or raised Lazarus from the dead. And he's spending time with Lazarus and with Mary and Martha there in Bethany as they're awaiting the Passover, as they're getting ready to go into Jerusalem. So it's in Bethany where he's with Lazarus, with Mary and Martha, where Mary anoints Jesus with oil, which Jesus tells his disciples, tells them that Mary has done this, anointing my body, preparing it for burial. And it's at this time then, a week before Passover now, they're in the week of Passover, as they are going to Jerusalem. They're about to make the final two-mile leg of this trip. And they're walking there by foot, as would have been customary for them to do. Making their way to Bethany, then next to Bethphage, which is near the Mount of Olives, all right there. And it's here that Jesus gives them instructions to go and get this donkey. So what's going on here? Why is this so important? And why did this action get such a strong reaction from the crowd? Why did the crowd get so stirred up when they saw Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the donkey? Well, this was a deliberate decision that Jesus made. Because he knew, see, he knew who he was, he knew his mission, what he had been called to do, and his arrival to Jerusalem was in direct fulfillment of all that had been prophesied about him. Specifically, a prophecy from the prophet Zechariah, chapter nine, verse nine. Let me read this for us. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, see your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey. This was a direct prophecy about the coming Messiah King, and now here at last, it's fulfilled in Christ. And the people, they knew this. They knew their Bibles. They knew the Old Testament. They were awaiting this Messiah who was to come. And the people, they had gathered. They had gathered there, they would have already known about Jesus. It's already been three years of ministry at this point. Many of them would have seen him already from the very beginning or have been hearing about him. They've seen his miracles, they've seen what he's been able to do. They've already been hyped about this guy and what he's able to do. So can you imagine the scene? These crowds of people, many of them who have been with Jesus for a long time or been following Jesus's ministry for years, They just would have seen how he healed blind Bartimaeus in Jericho. They would have seen or heard about the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Anticipation's already building about this guy. What is the Passover going to be like as he's gonna be in Jerusalem this year? What's it gonna be like when he's in town? What's gonna happen? Can you feel, there's a buzz, there's an anticipation in the air here. And then on top of that, Jesus goes and does this. On the last leg of the journey, as everybody would be walking the last bit of the pilgrimage on foot, Jesus, he would have stood out. Even on a donkey, he would have stood out among the crowd. He goes and he deliberately, unmistakably, fulfills this prophecy from Zechariah about the coming Messiah King. What would the people have been thinking? As Philip would say, they're probably thinking, we're so back. We're so back. We're so excited. We're here. Finally. What we've been waiting for this whole time. We're actually seeing it. We're witnessing it firsthand. The Messiah is here. Oh, this is going to be the showdown of the century. These Romans, the Herodians, they have no idea what's about to happen to them. The Messiah is coming. He's coming for them. Not only does he fulfill Zechariah's prophecy, but he also fulfills a prophecy that goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 49. If you remember the story, Jacob, who's renamed Israel, he has these 12 sons, and he's giving this farewell address to all of his sons, and he says this about Judah. his son Judah. The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him. And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples, binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine. This has been part of the history of God's people for generations. The buildup, now it's finally here. The Lion of the tribe of Judah is here. The Son of David is here. The Messiah King that's been prophesied is here. You put all those things together and you get Jesus. He fulfills all of these things. He is the Rifle King, yet He's the Humble King. And His victory is absolutely total and perfect, but it comes in a way that we don't expect, that we don't know, that we're not looking for right away, because He achieves His crown through the cross. So you probably know by now, I'm like most other pastors. I love Lord of the Rings, big Tolkien fan, and I love the books. I also love the movies, of course. They're great movies. I've made Jess suffer through all three of the extended versions. You can ask her about that sometime and be praying for her, I suppose. She owes me another rewatch, so sometime soon. There's one, just as an announcement, I guess. There's one, the movies are great, but there's one, there's several changes they have to make, of course, from the books. There's one change that the movies make from the books that I don't care for, though, and that's with the character of Aragorn. Aragorn, of course, he's the king. He's the king of The Return of the King, right? That's about him. But he's known as, he goes by Strider. He's known as Strider at the beginning of the story. In the movies, though, they change his character slightly. He is the king, but he's the reluctant king. They add some drama into his character that isn't there in the books. He doesn't know whether he wants to be king or not. He's worried that he might follow in his ancestor's footsteps, namely Isildur, who defeats Sauron at the beginning, takes the ring of power, but then he becomes corrupted himself and doesn't destroy the ring, and he wonders, am I gonna be like him? Am I going to fail just the way that my ancestors have failed? That's movie Aragorn, but book Aragorn is different. Yes, he is wandering and he is strider, but he's dead set on what his destiny is. He knows that he will be king again, and he has to right the wrongs that his people, where his people have failed. He's determined always in those books to fulfill what he's been called to do as the rightful king. So one of those well-known poems from Lord of the Rings is about him. The famous one that starts, all that is gold does not glitter. Not all those who wander are lost. The old that is strong does not wither. Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes of fire shall be woken. A light from the shadow shall spring. Renewed shall the blade that was broken. The crownless again shall be king. In the book, Aragorn is always carrying the broken blade of his ancestor. He's carrying it with him because he knows that that blade needs to be reforged and remade. And for him, who is right now crownless, again will become king. He will succeed and he will be the king where his ancestors had failed. So do you see that? You know, of course, in Tolkien, he's writing in this way and he's channeling so much of the biblical story. So of course, we see a strong resemblance in Tolkien's work of fiction to what Jesus himself accomplished in history. He always, Christ, determined his heart and his mind dead set to go to Jerusalem, to accomplish and to succeed this second and last Adam, to succeed where the first Adam had failed, you see. That's what he has come to do. He has come in the fulfillment of what was prophesied and promised about him, the true son of David, who was the son of God incarnated as the son of man, a descendant of David of the tribe of Judah, A flesh like you and me? This is the king bringing righteousness and salvation for his people. Not a king who will lord it over his people, but a true king, a king who is humble, who came, like we referenced earlier, Mark 10, 45, the theme verse of this whole gospel, that the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. That's the humble king. That's who Jesus is, that's what He's come to do. So what must be our response to this wonderful King who has come? What else can we do but praise Him and praise His name? So let's consider that now and we'll wrap up as we consider this second half of the text here, the praiseworthy King. There's absolutely nothing else we can do. And we truly understand who Jesus is, what Jesus has done, our great need for him. There's nothing else we can do but praise him. There's nothing else we can do but sing his praises. And that's what the people do in our story. In verse seven, it says that they brought the colt to Jesus, they 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. His entourage was singing and 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. So much packed into there. But we see, what kind of, What kind of ride would be fit for a king here? Notice it says that it's a cult that nobody else has sat on. This king is worthy of praise. He's worthy of honor. Even though he is humble, he is holy. Even though he is meek and lowly of heart, he is the Almighty God. the creator of heaven and earth. So they bring this colt to him, they lay their cloaks upon the colt that he can sit on them, and then they throw out the red carpet, as it were, for him. They throw their cloaks upon the ground. They take these leafy branches that they've gathered from the field. In John's gospel, we know that these, at least some of them there, are palm branches. And that's where we get the Palm Sunday from, that Sunday before Easter. And the crowd shouted out as they were doing this, they shout 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. And what we need to see here is this also is a fulfillment of scripture, of a great promise of scripture. These are the words of Psalm 118 that they're now attributing to Christ. So Psalm 118 verses 25 and 26 says this. Save us, we pray, O Lord. O Lord, we pray, give us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. You see that connection there. We bless you from the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord is the house of David the king. So a couple of really cool things here. First, this is a Hillel Psalm, Psalms 113 through 118. These are known as the Hillel Psalms. Hillel is the Hebrew word for praise. These psalms were sung during each of the three great pilgrimage feasts of Israel, Passover and the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths or of Tabernacles. These psalms emphasize God's deliverance of his people from Egypt. And these psalms would be sung during these feast days and as people would be pilgrimaging, journeying to Jerusalem. So they're singing these psalms. But on that day, you see the people are singing these psalms with so much more vigor because they are witnessing the deliverance that they have been waiting for. That day, as they sang about the great Passover, as they're singing and thinking about the Passover of God, they're watching the Passover lamb journeying into the city. And they sang and they cried out, Hosanna. It's a wonderful word. By that time, it had become a very religious and kind of a liturgical word for the people of God, but that word comes from the Hebrew, and it comes right out of Psalm 118. That word means, save us, we pray. Save us now. Save us, oh God. Oh, save us. That's the cry of God's people. Hosanna, that's simply a Greek transliteration right from the Hebrew, right from Psalm 118 and those other Psalms. Save us, we pray. Save us now. Save us, please. That's the cry of the people. But today and that day, the people are attributing that cry to Jesus, to the Lord Himself. See, Jesus, He is the praiseworthy King. He is the one who brings salvation. And of course, that's what Jesus' name means. The name Jesus is the name salvation. That's what His name means. Hosanna, the word with Hosanna there and Jesus' name, Yeshua, I mean, those come from the same word, the same root word for salvation. It's as if the people are saying, oh, Jesus, save us, please. Jesus, please, we need you. Jesus, He is the praiseworthy King. He brings salvation, He brings righteousness, the humble suffering servant, the Son of David. All of these things we've seen week after week in Mark's gospel, we've seen throughout scripture as we read it and study it. All these things are now coming together. What an amazing, wonderful story. written across the centuries, yet all coming together, culminating in Christ himself and the person and work of Christ and what he does. All these prophecies, there's no other person that has ever existed or ever could exist that would fulfill each and every one of these promises and prophecies about Christ. That's why Paul can write that every promise of scripture finds its yes and amen in Jesus, because it's all true. All of it ultimately points to him. He is the praiseworthy king. And then we get to the end of the passage and we end on a bit of a cliffhanger of sorts. It tells us in verse 11 that he enters Jerusalem, he goes into the temple and he takes a look around. And Mark doesn't tell us what he sees that day. We know that from the other gospels he sees quite a bit. And Luke's gospel tells us that Jesus weeps over the city because of what has become of this great city and his people. But He has come to fulfill His mission. He's come to be the crucified King who redeems and restores His people. And we're going to see exactly how He does that over the next several weeks. But today, as we're left with this story and as we're left with this sermon, the question for us is how have we responded to Jesus? How have we responded to Him? Do we see, first of all, that He is the King? Do we understand that we need the righteousness and salvation that only He brings? Are we able, do we understand that we need to see our King and follow His example as the humble suffering servant, the one who does not seek to be served, but to serve? Do we see Him as who He is, worthy of all of our praise? Are we looking to Him? Are we trusting in Him alone for our salvation? Passages like this, they point us back to Christ, they show Christ forth in all of His beauty, all of His majesty, all of His might and power. And that's where we're left with today, to consider Jesus, this humble yet praiseworthy King. So consider Him today, consider Him the rest of this day, the rest of this week as we go about our lives. Let's do that. Let's consider this great King and let's serve Him. Let's pray to Him now. Jesus, we know, we do know and we believe that You are worthy of all our praise, but We still forget it at times and our faith is weak at times and we don't always give you the praise that is worthy of your name. So help us even as we offer that praise to you now and as we'll sing these songs of response in just a moment. We thank you. that you did not come as a king to lord it over your people. You did not come to subject the people to yourself in that sense, but rather you have subjected all things to yourself so that you might free us, yes, to be your servants, but so that we might be freed from the tyranny and bondage of sin. And in you then we have true freedom. Freedom that we find when we submit ourselves wholly to you. So as you have come and you've given yourself and your life for us, may we likewise come and give our lives up fully to you in gracious response. You are the king, may we live like we truly believe it. For your glory we pray, amen.