Mark 11:1-10 is the account of Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem. It is marked off at the beginning with the temporal clause "And when they neared Jerusalem" and the change of place from Jericho (10:52) to Bethpage and Bethany at the mount of Olives. It ends with the return of Jesus with the disciples to Bethany (v.10). The place name "Bethany" is mentioned both at the beginning and end of the account (1.10). Mark 11:11 begins the account of Jesus' second day in Jerusalem.
The text of Mark 11:1-10 can be divided as follows:
v. 1 Introduction
vv. 2-3 Jesus instructs two of his disciples to fetch a donkey's colt "which no man has ridden"
vv. 4-6 Jesus' instructions are carried out to the letter
vv. 7-9a The procession to Jerusalem
vv. 9b-10 What the crowds were shouting along the way
v. 11 Conclusion: Jesus checks the Temple and retires to Bethany with his disciples.
The journey that was mentioned in Mark 10:32 has finally reached its goal. Bethany and Bethpage were two towns located at the Mount of Olives which was parallel to the eastern side of Jerusalem. Bethany -- the place of Martha and Mary -- will be mentioned again later on as the place where Jesus will be anointed for his death (14:1). Gethsemane, the place where Jesus agonizes in prayer before he is arrested is located in the Mount of Olives (14:26). In Zech. 14:1 ff, the Mount of Olives is mentioned as the place where God wll set his foothold in a battle where He will assert his reign over Jerusalem and the rest of the world. This text and Zech. 9:9ff about the king who rides on a donkey sets the theme of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem as the Messiah.
There are three elements in the entrance into Jerusalem that alludes to a Messianic entrance. The first is Jesus' choice of a donkey's foal to ride on, a symbolic action that recalls Zechariah 9:9. What Mark alludes to, Matthew makes explicit by his citation of the prophetic oracle of a humble king riding on a colt (Mt. 21:5, citing Zech. 9:9). While civil officials normally rode on a donkey, Jesus' specific instructions show that he had in mind a non-normal scenario.
The second element is the kind of welcome accorded to Jesus by the pilgrims who were also on the way to the Passover festivities. Some placed their garments on the road where he was passing while others placed branches that were brought in from the fields. Mark does not say what kind of branch was used, John writes that they were palm branches (Jn. 12:13). Palm branches were usually used in relation to Hannukah (cf. 2 Macc. 107) and the Feast of the Tabernacles. But it should also be noted that palm branches were used in the past to celebrate a victory that was seen as liberative (cf. 1 Macc. 13:51 and the liberation of Gazara by Simon the Macchabee).
Thirdly, the crowds were shouting a portion of Psalm 118:19-27 -- a Hallel -- that bespeaks of a king's triumphal entry. In this portion of the psalm, which is a dramatic representation of a king who arrives after a victory (see vv. 10-18), vv. 19-25 is the victor-king's command for the door of victories to be opened so that he may enter and his proclamation of the grace received from God; vv. 26-27 is the response of the people standing behind the door. The crowds that accompanied Jesus were shouting vv. 25-26:
Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna transliterates the Hebrew for "Save us!" Some scholars would point out that "Hosanna" has become a greeting, The Contemporary English Version (CEV) translates it as "Hooray!" They say that if it were a cry of rebellion, the Roman guards of the Antonia, a fortress attached to the city, would have been alerted to it and would have arrested Jesus fortwith. But it can be argued that a Messiah riding on a donkey's colt amidst the shouting for liberation would have been a funny sight and the Roman soldiers wouldn't have taken it seriously. The crowds were crying out for the Messiah to liberate them and this is strengthened by the second part of their cry.
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David.
Hosanna to the highest.
These words are not in the Scriptures, but they do express a sentiment that was alive in Jerusalem during and around the time of Jesus' entrance. The sentiment is expressed in a Psalm of Solomon (17) that was part of a collection of psalms authored in Jerusalem and dated to the time Pompeii subdued Palestine for Rome (c. 65 BC). The 17th Psalm of Solomon is anti-Roman in sentiment and expresses the hope that the Messiah would soon arrive.
Behold, O Lord, and raise up for them their king, the son of David,
For the time which Thou didst foresee, O God
that he may reign over Israel they servant
Gird him with strength, that he may shatter unrighteous rulers
and purify Jerusalem of the nations which trample her down in destruction...
And he shall gather together a holy people
whom he shall lead in righteousness ...
And he shall have the peoples of the nations to serve him under his yoke
and he shall glorify the Lord at the centre of the earth
and he shall purify Jerusalem, making it holy as of old...
May God hasten His mercy upon Israel.
Psalm of Solomon 17:21-22. 26. 30.45a
The phrase "our father David" refers to David as the founder of the city of Jerusalem, not as one of the patriarchs.
Luke for his part caught the kingly nuance of this entrance and so rewrites the account so as to emphasize its regal character transforming the train of disciples into a multitude that shouted: "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord". He then adds an echo of the cry of the angels at the birth of Jesus putting it in the mouth of the disciples: "Peace in heaven and glory in the highest" (Luke 19:38)
In the gospel of Mark, the entrance into Jerusalem is the first day of Jesus' ministry in Jerusalem. Unlike Matthew and Luke who put the cleansing of the Temple right after Jesus' entrance, Mark separates the entrance and the cleansing (cf. 11:10), putting these on two separate days. It is the entrance of a king, but of one who is humble and very different from the Messiah hoped for in the Psalms of Solomon. Jesus rides on a donkey's foal in a prophetic gesture (cf. Zech. 9:9) that proclaims the arrival of the Day of the Lord prophesied by Zechariah (Zech. 14:1ff) The last days have arrived and the battle will be waged beginning from the Mt. of Olives1. It is an entrance for which he has prepared. His instructions about the colt and the ease in which it was carried out by the two disciples (even possible objections were anticipaed) is testimony that the entrance was planned.2. The theme of Jesus' kingship is laid out beginning from the trial before Pilate (Mk. 15:1ff). It is ironically presented in the mockery of the Roman soldiers (15:16-19) and in the charge that is nailed on the cross atop his head (15:26). It is the kingship of the Suffering Servant already announced at his baptism (Mark 1:11), alluded to in Mark's account of his Testing in the Desert (Mark 1:12-13), proclaimed uncomprehendingly by Peter (Mark 8:27-29) but kept as a secret until his rising from the dead (Mark 8:30;9:9).
- 1. In Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" this thematic of the battle is mixed with the theme of Gen. 3:15 and that of Temptation in the Desert to create an opening scene that presents the Agony in the Garden as the start of the battle.
- 2. A similar case will be observed in the account of the preparation for the Passover meal. (see Mark 14:16 and context)
