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 will send it back here immediately.'" Mark 11:1-2
I dont want to repeat everything my John Mark had to say on this subject, you can listen to a much better message on this provided by Solid Rock at AJesusChurch.org
When an event is recorded in all four gospels it has a sort of rarity to it, this is one of those events. All four writers found this event marking the beginning of passion week to be of significant importance. According to Borg and Crossan's book, The Last Week, there were two processions that occured on the same day. From the west came the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, representing Rome with the power of the empire. Riding on a white horse, a symbol of military strength and conquer and his army that followed. Pilate was representing the power of the empire.
From the East, from the city of Jericho enters Jesus. In the words of the minor prophet Zechariah, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, 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." As Jesus entered, those who were expecting the Messiah were expecting a king. Many gathered palm branches and began to wave them in the air and they paved the road before Him with the robes off their own backs, a sign of commoration to the King as seen elsewhere (2 kings 9:13). And the people cried, "Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!" Hosanna, from Psalm 118:25-29, means "save now." Their Messiah had arrived.
The hope was not the fogiveness of sins and the salvation from the righteous wrath of God against sin, but from the tyranny of Rome and their oppressors. Similar to our situation in Irag, I would not be at all happy having another country in my city telling me what to do, even the very pressence of foreign soldiers would be in reality, oppressive. And here comes Jesus, fulfilling prophecy, performing miracles, claiming to be the Messiah, unfortunately the Jews were unaware of His purpose and the necessity of His death.
Two worlds,
Pilate came from the West, Jesus from the East. Pilate on a horse, Jesus on a donkey. Pilate came with a show of force, Jesus in humility (a). Pilate came in power, Jesus came in peace. Pilate was from this world, Jesus was not of the world (b). Pilate came in oppression, Jesus came with a choice...
And the choice is this, Who will you side with? Are you going to be a part of this world, with the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (c)? Will you identify with the system and the emptiness it has to offer, or will you identify with Christ? but more importantly than any of these, will you put your trust in Him for the salvation of your soul? or will you deny Him as the Only God? There are not many gods, we are not god(s), the universe is not a god, there is but one and there is salvation in none other but Jesus Christ, the consequences of rejection are forever, will you accept the One who died in your place, or reject Him and continue down your path of destruction, He loves you - enough to had died for you - but the choice is yours.
Triumphal Entry in the Bible,
Matthew 21:1; Mark 11:1; Luke 19:28; John 12:12.
(a) Matt 11:29 (b) John 8:23 (c) 1 John 2:16
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