Mark 11:1-11 || The Book of Mark || Pastor Sanaz Mesa

Ay man, how's everyone during tonight? You excited to dive into the Word

of God this evening? I will ask that one more time, you're excited

to dive into the Word of God this evening. As we have been in

our Mark series all year long, I hope that you have been enjoying it

just as much as I have. We have gone through ten chapters of the

Book of Mark, and we are about to dive into chapter eleven this evening.

And you know, in chapter eleven Mark, it takes a little bit

of a turn. There's a little bit of a shift that happens in Mark

chapter eleven. The first ten chapters of Mark really describe and emphasize Jesus as

the servant, the servanthood of Jesus, and who he was, and how

we are to be the same type of servant. But in chapter eleven,

he's not just a servant. It turns into the suffering servant. It turns

into the sacrificial servant. We're gonna read about the triumphal entry of Jesus this

evening. We're gonna study Chapter eleven, verses one through eleven. This is

recorded in all four Gospels. And how do you know if something is repeated

in the Bible multiple times, it's something that we definitely should be paying attention

to, and as this is recorded in all four Gospels, it's important for

us to understand exactly what is happening. God wants us to listen and learn

through the story of the triumphal entry of Jesus. So I'm going to pray,

and then we are going to start reading. Heavenly Father, we thank

you so much for this evening. We thank you for the servanthood of Jesus,

and we thank you as we dive into the sacrificial servant of Jesus,

how we can learn to be more like Jesus. Move me out of the

way. Lord, speak to your children this evening. In Jesus' name,

we pray. Amen. If you have your Bibles, we're going to open

it up to mark chapter eleven. If you have your Mark Study Guide,

we can open it up. If you don't have either of those, you

can either look at the screens or look at your Bible app But let's all

stand for the reading of the Word of God. Let's all read chapter eleven.

I'm going to start in verse one. It says, now when they

drew near to Jerusalem to beth Phasian 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 cult 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 we'll 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 that were standing

there said to them, what are you doing untying the colt? And they

said to 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 You may be seated now.

If you are like me, and maybe you didn't grow up in church,

and you haven't read this text your whole life. You read the heading the

triumphal entry, and you might have a picture in your head that looks a

little bit different than what we just read. Or if you were a Roman

reader and you have that reference to you, it is going to look a

little bit different when you're thinking about the description of what a triumphal entry looks

like. See back in ancient Rome, if a king went into battle and

managed to kill five thousand soldiers, then he was entitled to a triumphal entry,

So he would be brought into a golden chariot, paraded in front of

all the people. Soldiers would march. It's very very grandiose, and back

then they had these things called these triumphal arches. In Roman times, there

were arches like the arch of Titus in Rome, the arch of I can't

remember the other one that I was a Constantine, the arch of Constantine,

and then modern day, we have one in Paris, one my husband's favorite

city, called the Arc de Triumph And so this is like an example of

a modern day triumphal entry and parade that would happen through one of these arches.

So imagine reading this text and thinking, this doesn't really come off as

the pomp and circumstance of what I imagine a triumphal entry would be. But

the reality is that this is the most triumphal entry and significant entry that Jesus

has because he doesn't just come to triumph over man, but he came to

triumph over sin, and Jesus has saved far, far more than the five

thousand spoiler alert. This Sunday that we are studying is known as Palm Sunday,

and we celebrate it every single year. But it's the beginning of our

Holy week. It's the beginning of one week that is that honestly, a

big chunk of Chapter Mark is dedicated to this one specific week. But it

begins on this Sunday and it will proceed and on Friday, which we call

Good Friday, Jesus will die on a cross and he will be resurrected on

Sunday, and that we call that Easter, and this week, our Holy

Week, is such an important week. But we look through these eleven verses

that we read and there's no miracles or healings. It's just Jesus on a

donkey. But it's a very significant beginning to the greatest miracle of all time

to which anyone, anyone can accept and benefit from. The text that we

just read was fulfillment of prophecy in the Old Testament and Zechariah nine to nine,

it says, rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout aloud,

a daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your King is coming to you, righteous

and having salvation. Is he humble and mounted on a donkey, on a

cult, the foal of a donkey. Their king was here. As we

explore the text tonight, there's two questions that want you to ask yourself every

time I read any of the Gospels, especially, I always ask these two

questions, Who is He? And who are we? As Christians? Our

goal every single day is to be more like Jesus. So whenever I read

any type of text, I want to ask myself who is Jesus? Primarily,

what is Jesus teaching us about his care? So that we can be

more like him as Christians, and who are we? I challenge you to

find yourself in the characters of the Bible. The interactions that he has can

always teach us about ourselves and the relationship that he wants to have with us.

Tonight we will learn about the proximity of Jesus, where he is in

proximity to us. And if you're taking notes, we will discover three positions

of Jesus that he holds in proximity to this text. And I'm just going

to give him to you right at the front, and then we will go

through them. Jesus is ahead of us, Jesus is with us, and

Jesus is for us. I want you to repeat, Jesus is ahead of

us. That's our first point. So in the first few verses that we

read, Jesus sends these two disciples to the next town, and he says,

right when you get into town, you're going to see a colt tied

up. Untie the colt and bring it back to me. And if somebody

asks you why you're untying the colt, tell them the Lord has need of

it, and they will let you go. And you bring it back to

me, and so what happened. They went out, They went to the

next town. They saw a colt, they untied it. People said,

what are you doing untying the colt? They said, the Lord has need

of it, and they let them go exactly how Jesus said it would happen.

Jesus knew exactly what they needed, exactly where to get it, exactly

what pushback there would be, exactly how to respond to it. He prepared

the disciples perfectly for that entire interaction. He prepared the disciples with everything that

they needed to get the job done. I imagine that they were a little

nervous to borrow a donkey, but they did exactly what was asked of them.

They did it exactly the way that Jesus told them to do it.

In Deuteronomy thirty one, verse eight, it says, it is the Lord

who goes before you, He will be with you. He will not leave

you nor forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. Jesus orders our

steps because he has taken those steps. There is no path that he is

unaware of. Just like he prepared these disciples, he prepares us as well.

I'm a big fan of the website Yelp. Are there any Yelp fans

out here? Now? If you don't know what yelp is, it's an

app or it's a website where people can leave reviews of businesses. And so

anytime I go to a new business, like a new restaurant, I go

to Yelp because I want to know what to expect. This is new for

me. I have never gone there. So I go to Yelp and I

look at how many stars they have, But most importantly, I read the

reviews, and I will read a review and I will decide after reading the

reviews whether or not I am going to go to that place. Because sometimes

a restaurant can put the most beautiful pictures of the ambiance, the most beautiful

pictures of the food. They can make these cool videos on social media.

But then you go to Yelp and somebody says, yeah, I got the

burger. Take a look at my burger, and it doesn't look anything like

what the website says. And so I don't know for you ladies, if

you get your nails done like I do, I look at the Yelp review

for the nail salon. If I'm going to go try a new nail salon,

and I will look at the pictures and if it picture of the nails

kind of look like this, guess what. I'm not going. And gentlemen,

maybe for you, if you're going to a barber and you look at

the Yelp reviews and you see a picture like this, probably not gonna go.

And if I go to Yelp and I want to have a trusted plumber

come to my house, I want to make sure that I can trust plumbers

like these, And so I will go and I will look. Because these

are the people that are writing the reviews, are people who have gone before

me to a place that I am unfamiliar, and I want to know what

to expect. So I am trusting the experience of the people who have been

before me. But here's the thing. I don't know these people. These

are absolute strangers. But I take into account what they say. How much

more can I trust what Jesus has said, what Jesus has prepared for me,

what Jesus has planned and has ordered my steps. This is the man

who knows me, and who knows and who I can trust because he has

my best interest at heart. Jesus goes before us because he cares for us.

He prepares us because he knows what's gonna happen, because he has been

there before. So when it comes to Jesus being ahead of us, who

is he and who are we? Jesus is the one that we can trust,

even when we cannot see the whole picture. Jesus has seen, he

has been, and he has experienced. He is our trusted guide. And

who are we? We are simply to be like the disciples who followed,

who did what Jesus told them to do, who did not do things based

off of their own understandings. Their own understandings would not have told them to

borrow a donkey, but Jesus told them to do it, and they trusted

Jesus, so they did it. You know, there's plenty plenty of scripture

where Jesus says the words follow me. Lots and lots of scripture where he

says follow me. So when we talk about Jesus being ahead of us,

it is the proximity and the position of Jesus to be ahead of us is

so that we can be behind him to follow him. Matthew four nineteen says,

follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Matthew eight

twenty eight says, follow me, Lord, let me go first and bury

my father. He says, follow me, and let the bury their own

dead. In Matthew ninety nine, after he went out and saw a tax

collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth, he said to him, follow

me. He is constantly, constantly telling you follow me. That is not

by happenstance. It's because he has been, he has seen, and he

has ordered your steps. So you know, if you are in the shadow

of Jesus, you are on the right path. You do not have to

worry. If Jesus is ahead of you, then you are in the right

position. Jesus should always be ahead of us, and he should always be

guiding us as we follow him. The second position of Jesus is that Jesus

is with us. See Jesus can do all things on his own. He

can do everything by himself, but he chooses to co labor with us.

His ministry is built on the principle of partnership. Notice that he borrows a

donkey. In verse three, it says, if anyone says to you,

why are you doing this? Say the Lord is in need of it.

This is Jesus. He don't need nothing. Jesus could snap his fingers and

get whatever it is that he wants. But he asks the disciples to go

and borrow a donkey. Says, well, bring it back, but I

need to borrow something of yours. What is it that he can do with

what is borrowed? Jesus chooses to do ministry this way. He borrowed some

water and he turned it into wine. He borrowed a boat. Jesus walked

on water. He didn't need a boat, but he borrowed a boat,

and there was a purpose behind borrowing a boat. He borrowed a room,

and later on this week he's gonna borrow a tomb. He borrows things so

that he can call labor with us, so that we are a part of

his ministry. He does this for us because Jesus doesn't need anything. Jesus

is the one that we need, and he invites us in to co labor

with him. But in this text, he borrows a donkey. So let's

ask ourselves again when it comes to Jesus being with us, who is he

and who are we? Jesus is the co laborer. He is the one

that wants to be with us, and we are the donkey. I'm sorry,

I didn't mean to call you a donkey. You know there's another name

for a donkey, but I won't say it because I'm a lady. But

I'm so grateful that Jesus doesn't look at me and say I don't want that,

because that's just a donkey. He still wants to call labor with us,

even when we are being a big donkey. So the question is does

Jesus need the donkey or does the donkey need Jesus. Jesus does not want

to do ministry alone. First Corinthians three nine says we are God's fellow workers.

You are God's field, God's building. Do you remember back in high

school when you would do group projects. Nobody likes a group project. All

of a sudden, you go into your classroom in high school and the teacher

says we're gonna do group projects, and they start picking people, and you

got one overachiever like Pastor Nathan, who's very type A and is just very

upset because he does not want anyone having to you know, sway his grades.

So he just wants to do everything. And then you have people like

me, who's here for the ride, because this is probably the only a

that I'm gonna get because I got a partner doing all the work. But

there's always, you know, the people who don't do as much, and

then there's the people who get frustrated because they're doing all of the work.

And so nobody likes a group project. You know who loves a group project.

Jesus loves a group project. And what's crazy is that Jesus is the

one that's doing most of the work. He just wants to be with us

as we're doing it. He just wants you to be willing. He wants

to be chosen for the group project. He said, I'm gonna put my

portion in. I'm gonna do what I need to do. Just invite me

in. I want to be with you. So imagine and that you always

have a partner that you could walk through life with. Jesus designed it this

way on the principle of partnership. I love it because I'm a donkey.

Jesus doesn't look at me and say, you've got to do as much as

I do. You've got to put in as much as I put in.

He just wants me to be with him and follow him. He's like,

I got all the answers, you just got to come with me. First

Corinthians one twenty seven through twenty nine says, but God chose what is foolish

in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the

world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the

world, even things that are not to bring nothing, things that are so

that no human being might boast about the presence of God. I want to

read that to you. In the Good News translation, it says God purposely

chose what the world the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise.

And he chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful.

He chose what the world looks down on and despises and thinks nothing in order

to destroy what the world thinks is important. This means that no one can

boast in God's presence. He is taking, He is taking this thought process

of I can do it all by myself, and he says, let me

show you. I can use a donkey. And in the moment, this

is the triumphal entry of Jesus. You know, the first ten chapters of

the Book of Mark. He would perform these miracles, but he wouldn't want

all the attention on him. He would do it and just say, okay,

go your way. But in this moment, the triumphal entry, he

wanted all eyes on him. But he didn't just want all eyes on him.

He wanted all eyes on him and the donkey, because he cares for

us so much, and he cares for the low things. And it's okay

to be a low thing, because it means that God loves us, and

that Jesus still chooses us, and still has a plan for us, and

still can call labor with him and still be with him. God chooses us.

Rejoice today that Jesus chooses us and that we're undeserving. Yet he wouldn't

want to have it any other way. Say he chose me, even though

I'm a donkey. It sounds really good. The third and final point is

that Jesus is for us. Jesus tells the two disciples to go into the

village and borrow the cult and bring it back to him, and in verse

seven it says, and they brought the cult to Jesus and threw their cloaks

on it, and he sat on it, and many spread their cloaks on

the road, and other spread leafy branches that they had cut from the field.

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. I want to

focus on the words that the crowds were chanting, Hosanna, blessed is he

who comes in the name of the Lord blessed, is the coming king of

our father, David Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna means save us. Now,

the original intention was for them to be saved from political enemies, but

Jesus knew that they needed a whole lot more than that, that they needed

to be saved from their own sin. These people were quoting Psalm When eighteen,

singing and celebrating Jesus, but as they were trying to make him into

the kind of hero that they wanted him to be. So as this entire

week plays out, the same people that are singing and praising Jesus would soon

reject him. Back to the prophecy that we talked about in Zachariaan nine nine

says, Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation.

Is he humble and mounted on a donkey? Righteous? Humble, bringing

salvation. You put this together with the timing of Jesus entering Jerusalem Passover Week,

the time where God's people traveled from all over to Jerusalem to celebrate the

day that God saved his people from slavery in Egypt, when God brought his

people salvation through the blood of a spotless lamb. Jesus is entering the city

with no sin on him, in fact, choosing a colt that had never

been sat on before, so that he too was spotless. This was very

intentional. But five days after this, on Good Friday, he would go

on a cross to pay the price for our sins. He is for us.

Everything that Jesus did had purpose, Everything that he did was for us.

So why was he riding a donkey? You know, if a king

was going to war, he would ride on a war horse. It's a

picture of power. But when he was not at war, he would ride

on a donkey as a picture of peace. When Luke tells this story of

the triumphal entry, he says in Luke nineteen thirty eight, blessed is the

King who comes in the name of the Lord, Peace in heaven and glory

in the highest. The rest of Zachariah's prophecy, in verse ten says that

he speaking of the coming Savior, shall speak peace to the nations in five

short days. It wouldn't quite feel like peace, but in John fourteen twenty

seven it says peace I leave with you my peace I give to you.

Not as the world gives, do I give to you. These people thought

Jesus was one thing, but he was so much bigger than that. It

was by the blood of Jesus in five days that our identity would be reborn.

You know, Middle Easterns, they're an interesting group of people. I

say this because I am one. You can't say it, but I can.

We put a lot of emphasis on our ancestral blod blood. So there

is a huge pride that comes with being a pure blooded Middle Eastern. And

my whole life it was drilled in me. You are a pure, one

hundred percent Iranian woman. Woo. And so that's what I had been told

my whole life. I'm one hundred percent pure, I'm fully fully Iranian,

and that is something to be proud of. So when the ancestry dot coms

and all of those things came into play, I had no desire to even

try to get an ancestry dot com. What do I need it for?

I am pure one hundred percent Persian, and so I wouldn't do it well

as my parents were getting a little bit older and they were having some health

issues. Twenty three and meters in particular, you can do some tests to

find out if you're if you have any genetic predispositions to health issues not so

I got one and I was honestly not concerned about what the blood was gonna

tell me. But imagine my face when all of a sudden I look and

I am, in fact, not one hundred percent Iranian. I am.

I think it's eighty six eighty six percent. I can't believe it. I'm

only eighty six percent version, okay, And so what is the rest of

me? I have? Listen, you think that, I know, you

think I'm a system, but I'm not. I know, but I am

from Mumbai and I am also a little bit from Mongolia. That's what I

found out. Can you believe it? And the interesting fact about this is

that I was I was absolutely shocked because I had been told my whole life

there's just absolutely no way you are you are a pure blooded person. So

I called my mom. I said, hello, well, one of your

grandma's just lied to you about something, and she said, absolutely not,

you are one hundred percent Persian. These is a lie. They lied to

you. And so I got off the phone with her, and I have

to tell you. I know it seems really silly right now, but there

was a part of me that was really sad because I thought that there was

a certain amount of blood running in me that proved my identity. And so

I just was having a little bit of a pity party. So on twenty

three and meter they have this on the app they have where you can go

and learn about your culture. So me, being all sad that I'm only

eighty six percent Persian, I go over to the app to learn about the

Persian people as if I don't know anything. And what they do is they

tell you a little bit of information, but then they also write down a

phrase or a word that's common in that culture, and really big it said

gourbunit. Now I I lost a lot of my ability to speak Farsi when

I married a non Persian uh and moved away from my family. But gorbune

beam is something I actually say every single day to my children. We even

have a song that we sing about it, and it is a term of

endearment when you love something so much, something is really really cute with a

kid, and you just go, gorbun it bitam. You know, It's

just like a sweet, oh, I love you type of thing. But

it was so crazy because in that moment, I was so sad because my

identity was questioned because of the blood. But then I realized what gorbun it

bedam means. Gorbun it benam means may I be sacrificed for you. And

in that moment, Jesus had to remind me that my identity is not found

in a twenty three in me telling me I'm eighty six percent Iranian. My

identity is found in the blood that was shed on the cross for you and

for me. That it does not matter what the blood of the twenty three

and me, or what the blood of what my parents had said that I

was that Jesus who stood on a cross and died for my sin. And

went to hell and rose again and lives in heaven alongside the heavenly Father.

That is the blood that my identity runs with. So when he said to

me gorbune bidam, I happily accept that my identity is found in Christ.

Because Christ is the one that is for me, and everything that He did

for me is because because I because I am his child, and because his

blood was a sacrifice for me. And Jesus says to you today, Gonna,

He says to you, Gorna, may I be sacrificed for you.

We learned tonight that Jesus is ahead of us and that we are simply to

follow, and he will never lead us astray. We learned that Jesus is

with us and that he wants to call labor and we never have to do

life alone. In fact, we are not meant to do life alone,

and that He is for us. That the blood shed on the cross was

so that you can live in freedom. And if you have never accepted Jesus

as your Lord and savior, I want you to know that he's telling you

God, accept the sacrifice that I had for you, that I did for

you. I did it for you and all you have to do is to

be a willing donkey who says, I want to be with you, Jesus.

I believe that you died on a cross. I believe that you rose

again, and I want to live the rest of my life knowing you,

being with you, following you, trusting you. Are things going to be

easy? No? Are they going to be worth it? With Jesus,

Yes, So with every head bowed and eyes closed, we're going to altogether

say this prayer. And if you are somebody who tonight you feel like Jesus

is calling out, Gordonvidah, come be with me, Allow my sacrifice to

pay for you your sins. Be with me in co labor with me,

accept Jesus as your Lord and savior. Or if you're somebody who has walked

away from your faith and maybe tonight or through the Book of Mark series,

something's been tugging on your heart to just come back and you just needed that

invitation from Jesus to say, I want I want to do this with you.

I want to be I want to be with you, I want you

to follow me, I want to be I want to do this for you.

If you feel like Jesus is calling your name, whether it is for

the first time or to welcome you back. We're all going to say this

prayer together, but if you believe that with your heart, I want you

to believe it in your heart, So everybody repeat, Dear Lord Jesus,

I thank you for dying on the cross for me. I believe that you

died on that cross and that you rose again for my freedom, and I

want to be with you. I want to follow you because of what you've

done for me. I believe in Jesus. In Jesus' name, we pray.

Amen. Amen. Can we give a round of applaus for those of

you who prayed that prayer for the first time, or you meant it with

your heart, or you came back to Jesus. I want to let you

know that as we're going through the Book of Mark, we're entering Holy Week,

so it's going to get it's going to get really you're going to really

learn about what that sacrifice, truly, truly was. I encourage you to

keep coming back, but if you answered that ultra call, I would love

for you to visit www dot grow dot Faith, and there you will be

able to download some information written by our senior pastor Pastor Diego and it's just

going to tell you, Okay, so you gave your life to Christ,

Now what do I do. This is going to be able to help you

with that information. And if you need a home church, Patrea means family

and we would love to have you a part of our family. And so

you absolutely are welcome here to keep coming back Sundays and Wednesdays to just learn

more about the Word of God. And I just want to thank all of

you guys for diving into the Book of Mark. And before we leave,

I will pray us out. But if you are in need of additional health

prayer, that there are going to be our prayer ministry up here that can

pray with you for your specific needs. And so we just want to offer

that to you before we leave. Let's pray Heavenly Father, I thank you

for tonight's word. I thank you that Jesus is ahead of us. I

thank you that he is with us, and I thank you that he is

for us. Let that resonate with your children this week as we leave here,

and that we get tested that you are with us and that you will

guide us, and ultimately that you sacrificed yourself for us. We thank you

for all that you have done. We thank you for you in our lives.

In Jesus' name, we pray Amen. Have a great night, everyone,