Mark 11:1-19
In keeping with Jewish tradition, today is the first day of the week leading up to Passover. During the days of Jesus, to prepare for Passover, a Jewish family would select a year old male lamb. They would select this lamb four days before Passover. They would choose a lamb that was perfect without any flaw or defect. During the next four days, the family would observe the lamb and approve that it was perfect, to see if it was a worthy lamb. Four days with a lamb like this. 
Have you ever spent four days with a young animal caring for it? It’s like having a pet. Talk about getting attached to an animal. That is exactly what would happen. A Jewish family would spend four days becoming personally attached to the lamb so that it was no longer just a lamb, but it was their lamb.
You see for Passover, a Jewish family would make their way to Jerusalem. This Jewish family would go to the place of worship, which in the day of Jesus was the temple. This is where all of the other Jewish families were going too.
Now understand that this lamb was the centerpiece for the Passover. It was your lamb, a lamb that would represent you. An innocent, perfect lamb that would now be killed to die in your place – that would take your sins so that you could be forgiven, and ultimately saved from death and set free from bondage.
After the lamb was killed, you would go back with your family and have the Passover meal together. The children would begin to ask “Why do we celebrate this day together? And the family would begin to tell the story of how God had saved them from death and rescued them from slavery in Egypt.
They would talk about a night when your ancestors lived in Egypt when God passed over each family in Egypt. And if a family demonstrated their faith in God by sacrificing a lamb and placing blood from the lamb on the door, God saved their firstborn, and ultimately the next day Pharaoh released the Israelites from bondage.
Mark 11
Now we come to Mark 11. Jesus, the disciples, and a crowd of people are traveling the main road to Jerusalem where the temple was located, the designated place of worship to observe Passover. And it was beginning of the week leading to the Passover.
It is said that during the week leading up to the Passover, the number of people in the city of Jerusalem would more than double in size. People would travel from miles around all over the Roman Empire to the city.
In fact, if you were a Jew and you lived in Jerusalem and you had an extra room, it was a custom to let travelers to use your room. And when you would greet these travelers you would proclaim a blessing on them. You would say something like “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
So here Jesus is approaching Jerusalem. The crowds have gathered. Many have gathered because they have heard about Jesus. They have seen his miracles. Some had just seen him raise this man named Lazarus from the dead. But other people in the crowd are there just because they are making their way to Jerusalem for the Passover.
And all of a sudden, we read that Jesus stops and sends his disciples to get a donkey’s colt. What a strange request? What was Jesus thinking?
The Jews had been conquered by the Babylonians, Assyrians, and now the Romans. They longed to be free from the bondage of the Romans. They knew that the Old Testament promised the coming of a great leader, a King, a Messiah who would establish a new Kingdom. Many in the crowd were committed to following Jesus because they believed that Jesus might be the revolutionary who would deliver them from Rome.
There were numerous OT Scriptures that spoke of the Messiah:
Psalm 45:3-5
Put on your sword, O mighty warrior!
You are so glorious, so majestic!
[4] In your majesty, ride out to victory,
defending truth, humility, and justice.
Go forth to perform awe-inspiring deeds!
[5] Your arrows are sharp,
piercing your enemies' hearts.
The nations fall before you,
lying down beneath your feet.
Zech. 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—even on a donkey's colt.
Do you understand what is taking place here when Jesus requests a donkey’s colt? Jesus is fulfilling the prophet’s words. Up to this point, Jesus had never publicly declared Himself to be the Messiah. And now we read that Jesus takes a colt, and begins to ride into the city. Symbolically, Jesus was saying “I am the long awaited Messiah,” and the crowd goes wild.
He chose a time when all Israel would be gathered at Jerusalem, a place where huge crowds could see him. The people began to celebrate. The people lined the road, praised God, threw their garments on the ground and waved palm branches to honor Jesus.
Not all the people in the crowd would have realized the significance of what was taking place, but many were sure their liberation from Rome was at hand. Some would have been praising Jesus as part of tradition as they said “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” but others would have been praising God for giving them a king.
Illustration: Have you ever gone to something and someone or something didn’t meet your expectations? Growing up, my family would watch the Cincinnati Reds and the Bengals on TV. Each year my dad would take me to see the Reds play baseball, but I had never been to a professional football game. A few years ago, we were living in Kansas City, and during football season, everything is about the Chiefs. Unlike the easy opportunity we had to have bought a ticket to see the Bengals, Chief tickets were extremely hard to get.
But I was able to get a few, and so Tami and I went to our first professional football game. The stadium was packed. Monday night football, and they were playing Pittsburg. I remember how close the game was, the crowd cheering on their team. And I remember the quarter back, Elvis Grbac, making some incredible plays, sacrificing himself to win the game. The crowd went wild (besides the only Pittsburg fans who happened to sit beside us during the game).
However, I also remember going to another game and watching the Chiefs play the Jets. The stadium was packed. However, the same quarter back wasn’t making the plays everyone wanted, and they turned on him. The crowd was booing, and fans were screaming at the coach, “Take him out of the game.”
Jesus rode into Jerusalem and the crowds were cheering. Just a few days later, the day of Passover finally came. This was the very day that each Jewish family would sacrifice its lamb. Josephus, a first century Jewish scholar, wrote that over in A.D. 66 over 255,000 lambs were sacrificed.
That same day of Passover, when it became clear that Jesus was not going to fulfill the crowd’s hopes, a crowd made up of some of the very same people who just a few days earlier had praised God for giving them a king, now stood their saying “take him out of the game.”
Mark 15:12-13
"But if I release Barabbas," Pilate asked them, "what should I do with this man you call the King of the Jews?" [13] They shouted back, "Crucify him!"
Jesus actions may have fulfilled the prophet’s words concerning the Messiah, but His actions also showed that He was not a king that was seeking revenge, but peace. As a result, many of the people missed seeing who Jesus was, because they were pursuing their desires and expectations.
They were so busy expecting Jesus to be national leader who would overthrow current leadership, so busy pursuing their own interests and desires that they missed the words concerning the Messiah from Prophets like Isaiah who said…
Isaiah 53
“There was nothing beautiful or majestic about His appearance…He was despised and rejected…He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins…The Lord laid on Him the sins of us all…He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.”
Expectations: How many times people turn from Jesus because He doesn’t always fit our desires and expectations?
We talk about wanting revenge when Jesus talks about peace. We don’t want to forgive others, but Jesus says we need to forgive others before we can receive forgiveness. We talk about pursuing our dreams and Jesus talks about pursuing God. We see suffering and hurting people around us, people in poverty and we say Jesus why don’t you do something about it? Jesus says why don’t you love your neighbor? We talk about wanting freedom from life’s temporary circumstances or hardships when Jesus says, “Follow me and I’ll give you freedom from eternal bondage.”
The truth is that Jesus doesn’t always meet our desires or expectations, and we must not let that get in the way of experiencing who Jesus is.
Traditions: People can be pretty particular about their traditions. There are different kinds of traditions – cultural, family, personal, even spiritual. Cultural:
Personal:
Spiritual Traditions – As Christians we have spiritual traditions.
Traditions can be very meaningful and transformational. Spiritual traditions are often designed to help a person grow spiritually. But, when we allow traditions to become things we have to do, we remove the very transformational power that those practices were designed to create.
That is the danger of traditions. Rather than being transforming, they can become controlling. So controlling that you fail to miss the significance and as a result it doesn’t change who you are and how you live.
That is like the person who believes he must wear those socks or he/she won’t win. Or the Christians who says, “I must put my time in by attending church so I can earn my way to heaven,” or that you must worship a certain way, on a certain day, in a certain seat, and if you are going to get right with God, you must go to a certain structure (an altar).
Have you known anyone in bondage to tradition? Ironic, people are in bondage to traditions. The Jews were. God had provided a tradition so that they could continue to rely upon the God who delivered them, but they become so in bondage to their tradition that they miss the very sacrifice that provided them complete forgiveness and true deliverance.
They crucify Him. On the very day of Passover they crucify Jesus. Like an innocent lamb, they take Jesus and kill Him because He doesn’t meet their desires or expectations and because they are in bondage now to the very tradition that had been established to enable them to be set free.
Jesus was not only saying “I am the Messiah,” but He was also saying “I am the lamb” – your Passover.
Perhaps that why in John 1, when John the Baptist saw Jesus just before Jesus began his ministry, John said John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
But the people miss it because they were too busy pursuing their rituals and traditions.
Today actually begins the week leading up to Passover. Leading up to the day in which the true Passover Lamb was crucified. The very day the Messiah came, and ultimately God provided a Lamb to deliver us – to set us free from the bondage of sin so that you and I can experience true and complete forgiveness.
God has provided a way for you to be delivered. He cares for you so much that He breaks in and says “I’m going to break tradition and expectations and offer Jesus as your Passover lamb.”
Jesus is the worthy lamb that can set you free. He is the lamb that can deliver you from sin (experience complete forgiveness). He can deliver you from being in bondage to your past choices, from your guilt. Jesus is the very lamb that can save you from eternal death and set you free to experience eternal life.
“Is He your Passover Lamb?”
Or are you missing Jesus because you are too busy pursing your desires, expectations, traditions, or rituals.
“Behold your lamb that takes away your sins.”
As we pray together, maybe today the reality of the sacrifice that Jesus made for you has become clear. You may want to begin thanking God, praising God, seeking Him. Some may want to seek forgiveness. You may want to be delivered from the bondage that sin has had on your life.
Prayer:
Song: Now Behold the Lamb
Send Out: As you go through this week leading up to Passover and Easter, may your life be transformed as you receive complete forgiveness, as you are set free from your bondage which is made possible through Jesus, your Passover lamb.
Resource:
The Feasts of the Lord by Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal