The Great Anticlimax: Mark 11:1-11

Well that's a beautiful prayer that we've just sung.

And it's for all of us.

If you're in this point in the service and you don't sense that you've been in dialogue with God, that's a good prayer to continue to pray.

Lord, help me to see Christ this morning, that I wouldn't leave not having seen something of his glory this morning.

And so may that be a continued prayer of ours, even as we hear now from his holy word this morning to us.

Returning back to the Gospel of Mark this morning, Mark 11.

So here now the reading of God's holy word.

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, and he 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.

And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it.

And some of those standing there said to them, What are you doing untying the colt?

And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go.

And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it, and many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.

And those who went before, and those who followed, were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David.

Hosanna in the highest.

And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple.

And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Let's pray.

Oh Spirit of God, we thank you for this truth.

And Lord, we we pray and we ask, knowing that if this is to be animated in our hearts this morning, that we need you.

Holy Spirit, we ask and we pray that you would take this word and that you would apply it to us.

We might know you as the one who is engaging with us and seeks to feed us.

And so, Lord, we ask and pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So I wonder if you have ever been uh involved or had a time in which you were really excited about something, and yet when all was said and done, it ended up fizzling out, uh crashing, perhaps.

Uh one circumstance comes to mind when I uh really wanted to go to the movies one time.

And I sent out invitations to folks, and and uh after day one, I hadn't heard any responses from anyone.

After day two, I hadn't heard any from anyone, and then after day three, I still hadn't heard from anyone, and so it was apparent by the time the weekend came around that if I was to go over to the movies, I was going solo.

And so what began with initial enthusiasm and excitement uh soon was led to fizzle and amounted to nothing.

It was very anticlimactic.

And I share that because we see something of that in this passage this morning, uh, of course, on a far larger and more significant scale, uh, and a movement that initially begins with Jesus and his disciples surrounded by many who had great enthusiasm and a big buzz surrounding it, as Jesus rides on this cult headed to Jerusalem.

And yet by the time that he enters the temple, he is met with deafening silence, and it all ends in great anticlimactic fashion.

The welcoming party had decided that it was too late and they'd gone home back to their own lives.

The clamoring crowds just seemed to mysteriously vanish.

And so Mark's account is known for what doesn't happen.

This is not your typical Disney movie.

This is not Simba coming home to take over Pride Rock.

If that had been the case, then Jesus would have entered to the temples and he would have been met by legions of angels.

He would have been met with many that were awaiting him and homage and triumph, trumpets, festivals, ceremony, all of that with great joy that he had now returned.

But the account literally reads if you look back again, he that is Jesus went into the temple, and when he had looked around at everything, being that it was already late, he went out again with the twelve.

How anticlimactic.

I mean, this is Jerusalem.

He's in the temple.

That's something worth leaning into.

The silence is worth leaning into.

Why so anticlimactic?

What is going on?

The simple answer being that Jesus' intent was not to occupy the temple in Jerusalem at this time.

The anticlimactic was that his purpose was purposeful because Jesus' intent was to go to the cross and himself be the true temple for all to see.

Today we see many movements, don't we, arising up?

Many ideas that people want to go viral.

Some even referencing Jesus' name.

In an age of social media, movements are increasingly sought after, and I find myself increasingly jealous for the greatest movement above all.

And not be obscured by other man-made movements.

And so there is a warning in this passage, a warning that against mistaking enthusiasm for faith and popularity for discipleship.

Don't mistake enthusiasm for faith and popularity for discipleship.

Because we know if we go on to read just a few chapters later in the Gospel of Mark that the very movement that was one day seen to be praising God as he rose into Jerusalem was only a few days later a movement that was found to be opposing God.

How fickle movements can often be when they're man-made.

It reminds us that it is possible to be very close to the kingdom.

And to even give ourselves to religious exercises with enthusiasm, and yet not have the veil removed to see who Jesus truly is and who we truly are.

And it all hinges on this question or the couple of questions.

Who is this man?

And second, what is his purpose?

And so for that reason, I want to focus on feeding the faith this morning that desires to know the answer to those questions.

To see the king as he truly is, to see his intended purpose as it truly is.

And so we see Jesus exercise his kingly office in three ways.

First, the power of the king.

Second, the humility of the king.

And third, the cross of the king.

First, the power of the king.

Jesus here in this context is fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah, one of the prophets recorded in the Old Testament.

He had spoken this prophecy over 400 years prior, which said these words.

It says, 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, a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Now those words were uttered over 400 years prior, and this is the prophecy that's being fulfilled in this account.

This was happening in the midst of all these people, and they were part of it.

But even though all this is happening, the crowd just didn't necessarily know that this fulfillment was actually taking place in their midst, and that they were indeed a part of it.

I think it reminds us just how pervasive the blindness is in this world and in our own hearts.

Jesus was here in their midst.

They were participating in the fulfillment of this promise.

And yet many failed to recognize that this was the Messiah, the anointed one, who had came for such a time as this.

And they had him confused.

They didn't really know him.

And is it any less true today?

I think, you know, as we look around and we see that many Bibles and homes, we have churches on many streets.

We have people who can reference perhaps even Jesus by name.

But even with all of that, fail to recognize his presence and who he truly is.

For Christ to be present spiritually requires faith in who he has revealed himself to be.

Not someone of yesterday, not someone who is to come in the future, but that he is present today.

That many would be given faith to treasure the King and to serve under his reign and his rule.

A mind to know him, a heart to commit and to trust and to know him, to value his immense worth as God in the flesh, the King of glory, the one to whom every knee will one day bow.

Martin Luther said it in his day.

At this time point in time, Christ is present to some.

And to others, he is yet to come.

To all who believe, he is present.

But to those who are yet to believe, he is not yet come.

Now that's a true word, Martin.

But the question is, what accounts for the difference?

What makes him present to some and not to others?

The answer: Spirit given faith and the truth of his word.

Remember, Jesus said, Behold, I am with you always.

That's what he said.

Right now, are you wrapping your heart around that promise that he is with you?

Do you have eyes to see and understand and know his nearness to you?

It requires faith to believe that, to know that.

But that's a promise that's held out to you, that he's given you.

If you would but embrace it and embrace him.

Are you asking the Spirit to make His time and His Word and then worship, even here this morning, relational and life-giving?

Because you see, His power is a sovereign power.

And so not even an anti-conversion law can stop the spread of it.

And we see that very clearly in these words this morning.

Notice that Jesus, notice the instructions that Jesus gives to his disciples.

It's interesting to note in verse 2 just how specific the instructions are that he gives when he sends them out.

It wasn't a doubtful suggestion that there may be a cult somewhere in the city, somewhere, and they were to find it.

He gives a specific direction, specific word that led to a specific response, just as he said.

I mean, that's amazing to me.

But it reminds us of the power of his word.

We've seen it many times in Mark, haven't we, as we've been reading through the Gospel of Mark?

We've been seeing that Jesus using his sovereign power in service of his saving purposes and the faith of his followers.

And so if we pause here for a moment just to consider what was going on.

Take a minute to consider maybe what the disciples were thinking as they responded to Jesus' command.

I think we can safely assume that the disciples were of the mind that if these words don't have or carry with them divine power, then this task is destined to fail.

Right?

I can imagine that on their way to fetch this cult, they were thinking, at least perhaps somewhere in their mind, that we don't have the money to pay for a cult.

And neither do we want the exposure because they were close to Jerusalem, they were in the lion's den, as it were, because they weren't associated with Jesus.

They didn't want some kind of hostility or argument to develop with this owner of this cult who was asking them, why are you taking this?

And so I imagine in the back of their mind was thinking, if he's going to create a stir and he's not going to let us have it, then we're coming back to you, Jesus, empty-handed.

In order for this to be carried out, it must go with divine power and authority.

Or else it's doomed to fail.

We're coming back empty-handed.

And how that instructs us is that one key evidence of a movement of God is that it's always, always a sovereign work.

It originates with God.

We don't work it up.

When God is at work, it is God who authors it.

Whenever a work of the Spirit is carried out, there is an awareness in those in whom He is working that this is something that is coming to them, not something that has come from them.

It's a sense that you are being acted upon rather than something that's being worked up.

That He is the one who is animating and bringing life to your heart.

He's doing the renovation and making his character known within you.

It's always been the testimony of people of God throughout the history that the power came to them, not from them.

God was the author and the originator of it.

It's a faith that believes it's there's a power owing not to me, but to Christ in me and Christ through me.

We only have to see that it was Paul's testimony, wasn't it?

He says, at one point, he says, I toil.

I'm being used, he's saying.

But with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

He attributes it to God and the Spirit's work in his life and his heart.

And that's the reason why the word and prayer are the primary means that God uses to carry out his purposes.

But it does require a willingness for us to be used by him and to be acted upon by him.

It's been said that until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him.

And so it prompts us to ask: Am I poor enough in spirit for something to be done in me and through me?

Am I humble enough to seek and rely on the Holy Spirit and his power?

Am I looking beyond my own resources and giftedness to him who can supply everything?

That was a good question, searching questions perhaps to ask yourselves.

Because the Spirit uses empty vessels.

Right?

It's in our need that his power is displayed.

And so let's do that.

Let's seek the Holy Spirit's power in our lives.

Apply yourself to his word.

Long for and ask for persistently him to minister to your own heart through the word, that it might animate your own heart.

Seek for your own heart to be filled with Christ.

And I promise you, he will use you.

Because none of this comes to us from you know a top shelf that just seems just a little bit out of reach.

God can use anyone in his kingdom.

He even uses the ordinary.

I think there's something for us here as we look not only in these verses to the instructions that Jesus gives his disciples, but notice also the nature of the service that Jesus gives his disciples here.

Fetch the cult, he said.

Why is this comforting?

Because can't we at times begin to doubt and question that if the ordinary things really matter sometimes?

The ordinary things that we're called to do.

Well, this truth serves as a corrective to that kind of doubt and thinking.

The idea that God only uses the great accomplishments in this world, or that my obedience doesn't matter in the small things, that unless we're influencers with large followings, that we aren't somehow doing something of value to the kingdom, yes, we are doing something of value.

But what makes something fit for his service?

It's not the size or the scale of the task.

It's the question: is there faith in it?

That's what he's looking for.

We have the kids in the service this morning.

Kids, I love that you're in with us this morning so you get special uh attention this morning as I ask you a question.

If Jesus had asked of you the same things that he asked his disciples, do you think you could have carried that out?

Do you think that you could have gone and fetched a colt?

Do you think that you could have taken the coat off your back and laid it on the colt or on the ground?

Do you think that you could have cut off a palm branch and lay it in front of Jesus as he was riding up to Jerusalem?

I think you could.

I want you to know, kids, that you can serve in the kingdom of God.

It doesn't matter how big or small the task.

If you do it with faith, believing that you are doing it with Jesus and for Jesus, for the glory of Jesus, that is a wonderful thing in his eyes.

You're a value to the kingdom of God.

Don't look.

Not to the size and the scale of the task, but just be thankful that you and I even have a role to play it all.

So fetch the colt, spread the cloak, lay the palm branch.

Whatever Jesus.

Jesus has for you to do on any given day.

Seek to have faith in him so that what you do is with him and his attitudes and his words are on our hearts and on our minds and that will transform what we do in the service of the King.

And he will show you the power of his hand.

The power of the King.

The second is the humility of the King.

We read in verses 7 and 8, the disciples come back to Jesus with the colt, and they throw their cloaks on it, and then they uh Jesus sits on it and then he rides into Jerusalem, many putting their coats and these palm branches down on the ground.

But notice that he doesn't come like is customary on a triumph, a king in triumph, into the streets of Jerusalem on a war horse.

He doesn't come heavily handedly dragging and humiliating his opponents behind him.

But humble, quiet, understated.

J.C.

Ryle, bishop in England last century, speaks of the beauty of Christ's humility to endear us further to him.

And he states this he says, how did Jesus enter Jerusalem when he came to it on this remarkable occasion?

Did he come in a royal chariot with horses, soldiers, and many advisors around him like the kings of this world?

We are told nothing of the kind.

We read that he borrowed the colt of a donkey for the occasion.

He sat upon the garments of his disciples for a lack of a saddle this was in perfect keeping with all the tenor of his ministry.

He never had any riches of this world.

When he crossed the Sea of Galilee it was in a borrowed boat.

When he rowed into the holy city it was on a borrowed beast.

When he was buried it was in a borrowed tomb.

We have in the simple fact an instance of that marvelous union between weakness and power riches and poverty the Godhead and manhood which may so often be traced in the history of our blessed Lord who that reads the gospels carefully can fail to observe that he who could feed thousands with a few loaves was himself sometimes hungry.

And who could heal the sick and the infirm was himself sometimes weary that he who could cast out devils with a word was himself tempted and he who could raise the dead could himself submit to die.

Now that friends and dearest my heart that is a beautiful description of our Lord and we might ask in response to this yeah but why?

Why not blaze through all of this in a tower of strength?

The answer because we need to see both.

If we only saw his divine power we might lose sight of his humanity that he is very much like us.

If we only saw his weakness we might lose sight of his power he desires for us to see both and I and I pray again and I have desired that Jesus would would ride into the Jerusalem of many a heart even this morning once again you say well I I don't know if I can trust him to be so close and personal to me.

Look again to see how he enters into Jerusalem.

He enters the Jerusalem of a heart not in arrogance and boasting but in the quiet spirit of one who is humble and ready to serve you.

So won't you trust him to enter doesn't that humble posture endear your heart to him for him to be at work within you.

You see it's his humanity that allows you to know that he can sympathize with you.

But it's his divinity that allows him to know that he can help you of course there are some people that we know can sometimes help us but not having walked in our shoes they just struggle sometimes to really know how to sympathize with us and there are others who may be able to sympathize with us but as much as they would like to they just can't help us but in Jesus we have one who does both he pulls us up and he is able to bring sympathy to our souls where we need it most divinity and humanity in union that's the first thing the second thing is that he unites wealth and poverty think of the early church to the apostle Paul here is Paul he's going out to begin this new movement to the Gentiles he's bringing the gospel to the Gentiles he wants to bring Christ to them and and what did the brothers in Jerusalem charge him as he was about to begin?

What was his concern to be for as he brought the gospel to them?

His concern was to be for the poor Apostle Paul saying the very thing I was eager to do and so when it comes to a movement of the Spirit it can be recognized amongst oftentimes madmane movements and that and the fact that it is characteristically humble.

That along with a heart for the gospel there is a heart for the poor and the suffering I can testify to movements going on right now some enclosed countries where the gospel is going forth there is a movement of God there.

His spirit is on the move and a large dissemination of Bibles and resources for discipleship.

But what is also taking place is that the poor are being fed rice, water, dignity given to them as the gospel is brought into these lands baptisms are occurring but along with that there's a heart for the gospel and there's a heart for the poor and the suffering that's one example I could say many but I can also use this church as an example this church from the beginning desired to minister in the city in both word and deed the set the the the next hire after Pastor Tom was a pastor of mercy.

And mercy became a crucial part of what it means for us to enter into the suffering of others.

And although never perfect we do praise God that we have seen and witnessed the union of the the of power and weakness in our midst wealth and poverty for the glory of God's done with us yet.

He's more work he needs to do.

If we're to look like Jesus in the days to come our collective heart will need to grow in compassion toward the suffering the humility of the King and then finally the cross of the King whenever God moves among a people the cross is lifted up and its power speaks into needy hearts.

We see this clearly once again in the great anticlimax of Jesus as he goes into Jerusalem but then also into the temple.

What is clear here is that Jesus had planned not to set up camp in the temple but to be crucified only a few days later and himself to become the true temple so that his spirit would go forth unto the ends of the earth so that his spirit would bring Jesus Christ to every tribe and tongue and nation and people and land and when the spirit of the is on the move then the cross is never despised it comes into greater focus both justice and mercy kiss as it were and so he brings it into the hearts of people how do I know he means me well you ask because he's proven his commitment to you hasn't he didn't choose to remain distant from human suffering included in yours but he chose to become part of it.

He entered it to conquer it and to give you new life that's why he came perhaps you say well yes but I can't find him I don't sense his nearness you want to know how to find him don't sweep sin under the rug don't avoid it don't evade it bring it to him because he's ready to receive you that's why he came that's why he died come and taste a goodness beyond anything you've ever tasted before.

Find it in the heart of Jesus the cross is being held out to you again is the Spirit animating it to you and bringing it into your heart once again this morning don't come in the spirit of an orphan come as a son or daughter believing that Jesus welcomes you.

He welcomes sinners and that there is mercy for you because his heart genuinely seeks to restore your soul because at the end of the day why do we struggle in bringing our sin to God it's fear isn't it's not fear I fear I'm too much I fear that if I'm really known for who I am I won't be accepted I fear that I'm not wanted if he truly knew me in my heart behind that is a failure to trust that he is merciful and gracious.

And so perhaps the thing to repent of is not so much the thing that you have on your mind perhaps it's more so to repent of unbelief.

What does the spirit remind us?

The spirit reminds us that it's perfect love that casts out fear.

Are you doubting his love this morning that is keeping you from bringing the things that matter to him to receive his cure and to restore your soul that's what he wants of you.

A true work of God never fails to bring the fault line of the cross into the heart of a person we can be assured of that it's fruits deeper repentance a deeper humbling honest confession but also a deeper knowledge of Jesus and his righteousness and love new life emerges reconciliation is witnessed obedience and service grow out of gratitude and thankfulness because until then we don't really know what righteousness is until then we don't really know what justice is and likewise we don't know the depths of mercy and grace we only need to look at the cross to see what God thinks of all these things.

And so do you glory in the cross of Jesus Christ would you willingly and gladly praise and delight yourself in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who loves you and gave himself for you in your remaining days in this life has the true temple Jesus Christ come to dwell in your heart and to do a work of renovation if so then there's good news for you because you are caught up in the greatest movement in history and this movement unlike many will not falter and fail and fizzle but will only grow into eternity there will be no anticlimax in your story.

We praise God resurrection life is yours so trust him and you'll be led to see even greater things than these amen let us pray oh Lord we praise and we thank you for who you are Lord the goodness and the benevolence of your heart King Jesus Oh Lord I know from me I trust we all have seen something of your goodness this morning as King overall the King who is even willing to plumb the depths of sinners' hearts like ours to perfect us to purify us to use us in your kingdom and for your glory so Lord we ask and we pray would you would you continue by your Holy Spirit to go forth Lord may many more hearts come to to know what it means to be brought into the kingdom of light and the kingdom of your beloved Son.

And so Lord we ask and we pray for your glory and your fame to be lifted up in our hearts and this church and our city and our world in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen