Commentary - Mark 11:1-11

Bird's-eye view

Here we have the formal presentation of the King to His capital city. This event, which we call the Triumphal Entry, is anything but accidental. It is a deliberately staged, prophetic street theater, orchestrated from start to finish by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is not being swept along by events; He is directing them. He is consciously fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah, presenting Himself as the humble King who comes not on a warhorse, but on a lowly donkey's colt. The crowds, stirred by the Spirit, respond with the appropriate royal and Messianic psalms. They cry "Hosanna!" and welcome the coming kingdom of their father David. Yet, as is so often the case, their understanding is partial. They are looking for a political conqueror, but the King who arrives is after a much deeper conquest. He comes to His Temple, not to the Roman fortress. And in a classic Markan touch, the chapter ends not with a bang, but with a quiet, ominous look around. The King has come home, and He is about to clean house.

Outline

Commentary

The Sovereign Command

1 And as they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, 2and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. 3And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here.”

The geography is precise. The Mount of Olives is the place from which the Messiah was expected to come, the place from which He would later ascend, and the place to which He will one day return. Jesus is now at the very threshold of His Passion, and He is in complete control. Notice the meticulous detail of His instructions. He does not say, "See if you can find a donkey." He tells them the village, the exact circumstances of the colt, its location, and its history, that it had never been ridden. This is not a lucky guess; this is divine foreknowledge. The colt being unridden signifies that it is set apart for a sacred purpose, fit for a holy King. Things consecrated to God were to be unblemished and unused (Num. 19:2; 1 Sam. 6:7).

And then we have the password: "The Lord has need of it." This is a staggering claim. The word is kurios, Lord. Jesus is claiming absolute ownership, not just of this colt, but of everything. This is a divine requisition. The ultimate owner of all things is simply claiming His property for His own purposes. The promise to return it shows His graciousness, but does not diminish His authority. He is not borrowing; He is commanding. This is a direct assertion of His deity and His sovereign rights over all creation.

The Obedient Execution

4And they went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it. 5And some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6And they spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission.

The disciples display a simple, commendable faith. They do not question the strangeness of the command. They do not ask for a backup plan. They simply go and do as they were told. And what happens? Everything unfolds precisely as Jesus had said it would. They find the colt, exactly where He said it would be. The bystanders challenge them, exactly as He anticipated. And when the disciples give the designated answer, the owners let the colt go. This is a beautiful illustration of how the kingdom works. God gives the command, His people obey in faith, and God ensures the outcome. The entire universe is rigged in favor of God's will being done. When we obey, we find that the Lord has already gone before us and prepared the way.

The Humble Coronation and Homage

7And they brought the colt to Jesus and put their garments on it; and He sat on it. 8And many spread their garments in the road, and others spread leafy branches, having cut them from the fields.

Here is the coronation. It is not in a palace with a golden throne, but on a dusty road on a borrowed donkey. The disciples' cloaks serve as a makeshift saddle, an act of honor. The crowd's response is spontaneous and deeply significant. Spreading garments on the road was an ancient act of homage reserved for a king, a way of saying that the ground itself was not worthy for the king to tread upon (see 2 Kings 9:13). They are rolling out the red carpet, as it were. The leafy branches serve the same purpose, a festive and celebratory welcome for a conquering hero or monarch. They are treating Jesus like a king because He is a King. The Holy Spirit is stirring them to give Him the honor He is due, even if their theology of His kingship is still under-developed.

The Messianic Acclamation

9And those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: “Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; 10Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in thehighest!”

The words they shout are not random. They are quoting directly from Psalm 118, a psalm of messianic expectation sung during the Passover. "Hosanna" is a Hebrew phrase that means "Save now!" It is a plea for salvation and a cry of praise all at once. They are asking the Messiah to bring the salvation they have been waiting for. They correctly identify Him as the one "who comes in the name of the Lord," the promised agent of Jehovah. And they connect Him explicitly to the "coming kingdom of our father David." They know their Bibles. They know that the Messiah would be David's son and would restore David's throne. Their words are theologically correct and prophetically potent. The irony, of course, is that within a week, other crowds in this same city will be shouting "Crucify Him!" The salvation He came to bring was not the political deliverance they wanted, but a deliverance from sin and death, which required the cross.

The Royal Inspection

11 And Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.

This verse is one of the most understated and powerful in Mark's gospel. After all the shouting and celebration, the climax seems to be an anti-climax. The King enters His capital, proceeds directly to the Temple, His Father's house, the spiritual heart of the nation. And what does He do? He doesn't make a grand speech. He doesn't seize power. He simply looks around. But this is not a casual glance. This is a royal inspection. This is the owner of the house taking stock of what has become of His property. He sees the money changers, the sellers of doves, the whole corrupt system that had turned a house of prayer into a den of thieves. His silence here is deafening. It is a quiet, deliberate assessment before the coming judgment. It is late in the day, and it is late in the history of Israel's apostasy. The King has arrived, and He is not pleased. This quiet look sets the stage for the dramatic and violent cleansing of the Temple that will follow the next day. The King has come to His own, and His first order of business is to purify His house.

Application

The central lesson of this passage is the absolute and total Lordship of Jesus Christ. He is the sovereign King who directs all of history according to His perfect plan. He owns everything, and He has the right to requisition whatever He needs for His purposes, whether it is a donkey's colt or our very lives. The question for us is the same one that faced the owners of the colt: when the Lord says He has need of something of ours, what is our response? Do we hand it over willingly, recognizing His ownership, or do we cling to our pathetic little property rights?

Second, we are called to give Jesus a Triumphal Entry into our own lives. We are to pave the way with our submission, laying down our pride and our self-will like garments in the road. We are to cry "Hosanna!" not just with our lips on Sunday morning, but by acknowledging His right to rule over our finances, our families, our ambitions, and our time. He is not a consultant to be invited in when we need help; He is the King who claims every square inch.

Finally, we must remember that when the King comes, He comes to inspect and to cleanse. He enters the temple of our hearts and looks around at everything. He sees the compromises, the idols, the tables of the money changers we have set up in the holy place. We should welcome this inspection. We should pray with the psalmist, "Search me, O God, and know my heart!" For the same King who casts out corruption is the King who brings true salvation. Hosanna! Save us now, Lord, from our sins, from ourselves, and for Your glory.