Day 31 : Mark 11:1-11
The Lord needs it
Chapter 11 introduces us to a new form of parable, not told to gathered crowds but instead acted out for all to see. These moments follow in the tradition of the Old Testament prophets who sometimes used their actions to speak louder than their words (see Ezekiel 4:1-16). It’s a tradition we still see today in the kneeling of sports men and women before a football match, or during anthems in USA. Even the provocative action caused by the toppling of statues built to honour slave traders.
Jesus’s journey has brought him to Jerusalem for what will become his final week before his death. The beginning of these final events is marked by Jesus’s procession into Jerusalem on the back of a colt (small donkey). What to you and me may seem an insignificant journey to those gathered it seems to be much more momentous.
One of the reasons for this is that this story is built upon the ideas and images shared by Israel’s prophets, which would have been very familiar to those watching. Zechariah 9:9-10 is one such passage celebrating the coming of a King who will bring peace to the nation. We also have echoes of Psalm 118:25-26 in the cries of the people who waved their palm branches and laid down their coats before him.
The journey was also significant because of the contrast it offered to another political moment occurring in the city. As Jesus entered on the back of a donkey, hailed as King of the people, the city’s ruling power rode in mounted on a war horse and surrounded by armed centurions. This procession was supposed to be a reminder of who was in charge and yet the sight of a man on the back of a donkey had begun to stir up the thought of freedom for an oppressed people.
