READ: Mark 11:1-11: … Then they brought the colt to Jesus … those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” …
Jesus is heading towards Jerusalem, where He will be condemned and killed. It should not escape the people that when they kill Him, He is the promised King. He instructs His disciples to bring a colt, on which no one has sat. A creature for sacred use; sacred like His immaculate conception. There will be no corpse in His tomb.
Everything happens as He desires: the colt is found and given willingly. Just the explanation that “The Lord has need of it” is enough to let the colt go. Jesus takes a seat with His clothes as a cushion.
Meanwhile, there is a crowd around Him, both from His followers and coming from Jerusalem. Now, as Jesus wants to present Himself as a king, they expect something grand. They see Him as the great miracle-worker, capable of great things and seeming to fulfill prophecies. Is this not the son of David who was to come to save them? Does this not come from the LORD?
But their thoughts turn to liberation from earthly occupiers instead of liberation from the power of sin and spiritual enemies. They wanted to make Him king before (John 6:15), and now the moment seems to have come.
They get excited, spread branches and clothes on the ground for a royal reception from the Mount of Olives, and sing enthusiastically to Jesus: “Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the Kingdom…! Hosanna in the highest heavens!”
Hosanna means “save, help now.” Their song is a mixture of supplication and worship, using the text of Messianic Psalm 118. The sadness of this event is that they do not recognize Jesus as their Savior who comes to suffer for their sins (Is. 53). That He comes as a king on a colt indicates His humility as the fulfillment of Zech. 9:9.
Jesus knows that this acclaim will provoke the anger of the Jewish leaders, leading to His death. But this is the Father’s will (Heb. 10:9,10).
Can we have wrong faith joy?
Singing: Ps. 118:7