Text: The Holy Gospel According to Saint Mark 11:1-10
Everything that JESUS did was done according to the purpose established in God the Holy Trinity!
It was necessary that Jesus go to Jerusalem, the City of Peace, because the Prince of Peace was drawn by the purpose of God to fulfill the plan of God there. It was at Jerusalem that the Pascal Lamb of God would be offered up by the Hebrew people that all men might be drawn unto this place of the Cross-where Jesus died for the sins of the world! Lamb of God...Lamb of God... dona nobis pacem!
So, they "drew near..."
"When they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, and said to them, "Go into the village opposite 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 any one says to you, `Why are you doing this?' say, `The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.' "
There, near these places of importance.
"Bethphage" is the place of unrippened figs of Matthew 21:1
"Bethany" is the "house of dates" and is the place visited by Jesus (Matthew 21:17; 26:6; John 12:1; and, Luke 19:29)... It is also the place Lazarus was raised from the dead, (John 11:18); and it will be the place where JESUS ascends into heaven! (Luke 24:50). The Mount of Olives is the place where JESUS will return in Glory (Zechariah 14:4).
So, Jesus points his disciples to the place where a colt will be tied that God has prepared for this moment in time, this very event of history (HIS-story)... a little colt that was prepared for the entry of Jesus into The City of Peace.
"And they went away, and found a colt tied at the door out in the open street; and they untied it. And those who stood there said to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" And they told them what Jesus had said; and they let them go."
Alas, brothers and sisters, there was a "neighborhood watch," and the disciples did just as Jesus told them... the LORD had need of the colt, so they let them go...
How well we could learn from this event. If the Lord has need of the little things in our lives, would we let them go for his use that he may return it in due time in a better condition than what we gave it to him?
Let us allow the saints to bring our gifts to Jesus for his use.
"And they brought the colt to Jesus, and threw their garments on it; and he sat upon it. And many spread their garments on the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed cried out, 'Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming! Hosanna in the highest!' "
When the nation of Israel's fate was being voted upon in the United Nations in 1948 a cry rose up in the back of the great auditorium where the crucial vote was taken. It was "ana ad hoshea!" - "O, Lord, Save us!" With that cry, the vote allowed for the little nation to exist again after many years following the "diaspora." The Jewish people began to come back to the land of their forefathers. Needless to say many problems and wars have come from that event, and many injustices have come forth for other peoples. But, at issue is the cry for the LORD to SAVE...
It is only the Lord God through Jesus Christ who can save, and the Scriptures tell us that those who call upon the Name of the LORD will be saved!
It is of great importance that those who were responsible for crucifying our Lord were also the first ones to be saved on the Day of Pentecost only a 49 days following the Feast of Passover / Unleavened Bread and First Fruits (Easter Sunday)!
Thanks be to God for this Gift of Salvation, the Mercy of God alone!
And those who went before and those who followed cried out, 'Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming! Hosanna in the highest!'
Perhaps, Mary was in that group who proclaimed this truth of her Messianic Son. For Mary pondered these things well in her heart as well.
May we ponder the graces of God through Mary today.
May we take these palms and remember them as those instruments that proclaimed and waved before our God, the Immanuel with us, that God came down in JESUS, the Son - taking upon his shoulders the sins of the world, the Lamb of God... who grants us Peace from the City of Peace.