Advent 1: Gospel, Mark 11:1-10                                         

Mark 11:1-10

Advent always begins with consideration of Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of His last earthly week. Interesting isn’t it? But when one considers that Advent is about awaiting the coming of Jesus, it is fitting that  we consider His coming to the threshold of the very work He was sent to do. That’s what we have in this week’s gospel.

I don’t know any disciple of Jesus who doesn’t love the account of Jesus “Final Entry” as it is called. He is coming to be welcomed by crowds who have been waiting for fulfillment. Jesus has been aiming at this moment His entire earthly life. He has taught about it. His disciples have argued over it and His dear mother has “pondered all these things in her heart.” It’s Jerusalem crunch time. And it begins with a parade of sorts.

On Palm Sunday we commemorate this day as well and our focus is on palm branches and “Hosannas” that await the coming Deliverer of Israel. And oh, they have waited for so very long. But I want us to consider the first few verses that set the stage for the entry. “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” (Mark 11:2). Think of all that the inner circle has heard and seen and now Jesus is talking about “renting” an unused vehicle of sorts. A beast who will carry divine weight. In just days, so will his cargo. It’s touching actually. Jesus sends out his men to do one of their final tasks before his bloody execution and it has to do with securing the use of a common beast of burden.

A young animal will carry the King of all Kings to begin his “Enthronement Ceremony” on Golgotha just a few days hence. And as was always the case, what Jesus had told them would come to pass was fulfilled to a tea. How could He miss? He knew what command He had, but even more to the point, He knew what dear old Zechariah had prophesied some 500 years before these days. “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” (Zechariah 9:9).

Mark well that passage in Zechariah. It sheds great light to the soul if ever you should wonder, “Is everything going to take place just as he said it would?” Oh it will indeed. And isn’t that the point of Advent after all? Awaiting his arrival whether it be commemoration of his holy birth in Bethlehem. Whether it be his promised coming to take us to our eternal home or even the promise of his coming to a parade celebrating the final sacrifice for sin on a hill just outside the City of the Great King. And he needed that little donkey to pull it off. After all he was part of the promise.