Hosanna!

I've been journaling through the Gospel of Mark for some time now. I write out a brief passage in my notebook and then work out my own thoughts about the passage by writing down my impressions. The goal is to see the Gospel in the text and preach it to myself. I do not use commentaries or study bible footnotes for this (though I frequently utilize these resources for other purposes).

One side-effect of this process is to keep you attuned to the context of every passage, and also to help you see the dramatic arc of Mark's account and also it's place in God's overall "plan of salvation."

I'm in chapter 11 just now, with Mark's description of the "triumphal entry." I've always wondered about what was going through Jesus' mind as he road the young donkey along its leaf-strewn path into the city. I have wondered if he considered that nearly all these people who were singing his praises that morning would desert him within the week.

But I don't really think so?

They were giving him glory, calling him their king, and talking about the re-establishment of David's kingdom. But he was out for something greater by far than David's kingdom ever was. What he had in mind, I suspect, was how the events of the coming week would initiate something that, no matter how painful for him, would result in such glory and fame for the Father as to make the terrible suffering of the cross--how terrible no man but Jesus will ever truly understand--all worthwhile.

You think of the glorious words written by the author of Hebrews:

"...looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb 12:2.)

What was "the joy set before him?" The answer to that question is, I believe, the same as the answer to my other question, what was on Jesus' mind as he rode into Jerusalem that long ago day?

I suspect there are many facets to the answer, but one of them surely is this: he was thinking about the glory and praise that will come to God because of the lonely and excruciating suffering that he was riding inevitably toward? Yes, a kingdom was coming, but the kingdom of one greater even than David. Jesus would very soon be addressing this very topic, shortly before his death in Jerusalem (Mark 11:35-37):

And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet.’

David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.

And the point is, hosanna!