Conquering King

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

CONQUERING KING

Mark 11:4-11

4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"   10 "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest!" 11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

NIV

The triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem riding upon a donkey, at least that is what we call this event recorded for us here. Surely it seems the people actually thought he was going to over throw the current leadership and set himself up as the king of Israel then wage an all-out war on Rome destroying it, thus freeing the people from all oppression. It is sad in some respects that we humans always think in human terms. It is doubtful they would have been so excited and yelling, “Hosanna in the highest” if they knew that he was coming to die for their sins. Of course in hind sight we know what this entrance into the city is all about and we see the great spiritual significance of this event. But are we missing anything else in all the events and life of Christ? Do we still think in human terms concerning many things we should be seeing the great spiritual significance in? We try to apply the truths of the scripture to our lives, but should we be applying our lives to the truths of the scripture? In some sense we should be yelling,” Hosanna in the highest!” “Blessed is he who comes into our lives in the name of the Lord!” We should be laying down our lives, not our cloaks, saying, “Blessed is the coming of the kingdom” leaving out of our father David. We should be excited about the fact the kingdom of God has arrived and we are able to become citizens of that kingdom. It seems that many of us are simply too reserved to shout, or even raise our hands, especially when we are supposed to be worshipping him in church, in fact some even barely open their mouths to sing. In some churches it looks like a funeral service instead of a worship service. But then again many might be thinking in human terms and their lives are not any better than they think they should be, or they are having some human problem that overpowers any spiritual insight into being a part of the kingdom of God. We need to throw everything in our lives on the path making way for the coming of the king into our lives. We need to case all our cares upon Jesus. He is the conquering king, He is our conquering king. He has conquered death, so we can have life. That is what this entrance into the city is all about, but they missed it, we cannot afford  to miss it, for we know the truth. We need to let him conquer our lives.