The Lord Needs It

Mark 11 : 1-11

Today is what Christians call Palm Sunday. It is the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem. It was as big as the United States inaugural day parade that takes place in our country every 4 years when we elect a president. The president usually will ride in a black Cadillac Escalade called the “Beast”, with flags waving on each front corner of the hood. We all know what that looks like.

In Jesus’ day, before the internal combustion engine, their equivalent of the “Beast” was the Beast of burden, or commonly known as a donkey…

And along the path as Jesus rode into Jerusalem, people were waving palm branches. And it is interesting that the way the Gospel of Mark tells the story, the beast or donkey takes up half the story.

What I find so amazing and I think that we should not miss the importance of how Jesus goes about getting the donkey.

I think that this is especially important for us to see.

He must want us to see this is an important detail in this story.

So, this morning I want to answer two questions One, is why does Jesus need this donkey, and the second question is, why does He get it in such an unusual way?

Hopefully, we will go away understanding more of what God wants from us.  And I think we will see something that would be easy to miss in this story and it also challenges you and me in how we respond to Jesus.

I-First let look at Jesus’ Need For it….

So why a donkey? I don’t know about you, but if I had a choice of what to ride into a city on, it probably would not be a donkey. But on this day, God’s people have been praying earnestly for about a hundred years for a king to come as the Old Testament promised.  Now the Jewish people have been under the ruthless rule of Rome for a long time, and they had reached a point where enough is enough… 

They have no king because the Roman army is occupying their country and they will not let them have a king. Instead of a king, the Romans put in place a Roman governor (Pilate). So, the Jews are a puppet state, and they resent that. So, they have been begging God, for a king….

It says, in Zechariah 14:4 “That the Deliverer would stand on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem and that’s where He would appear from.” And then it says, in Zechariah 9:9, “That He would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

So, when Jesus, starts this two-mile inauguration day parade down into the heart of Jerusalem, He comes riding down from where? The Mount of Olives.

He comes riding on the back of a donkey, the same beast that king Solomon rode when Solomon rode into Jerusalem as king.

So, nobody misses this because they have been praying for a long time for this to happen. Everyone knows that God has finally sent this new King, which caused people to take off their coats, lay them on the road so that the hooves of the donkey carrying the new King don’t even have to touch the dirt… That is how excited they are about it.

Well, of course, the Romans see this, and five days later they kill Jesus and Pilate puts on a piece of wood above Jesus’ head on top of the cross that says,  “King of the Jews.”

It is an interesting moment because for most of Jesus’ life He has walked. He walks everywhere. He is much too poor to own a donkey. But for this moment, to honor the ancient prophecies, to fulfill them to the letter, to declare to the world that He is God’s King sent to deliver God’s people, so He needs a donkey…………. You see that is why He needs it.

II- Now let’s look at how this beast of burden was provided.

If you look at Mark 11, it says that as Jesus and His disciples approached Jerusalem and came to Bethpage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives.  Then Jesus sent out two of His disciples. And He says to them,  “Go to the village ahead of you and just as you enter it you will find a colt tied up there which no one has ever ridden.”

But I am not like Jesus in that as Jesus could calm a storm with a thought, He also can instantly break a donkey from bucking. Now, Jesus is outside of Bethany. He hasn’t been in that village yet. So how does He know all this? Well just like the Bible says over and over, “Jesus is God”…

Basically, where doesn’t the Bible say that Jesus is God. There are so many references to this such as Titus 2:13- “Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Then Jesus says to the apostles when they found the donkey colt  “Untie it and bring it here.” Now, if I were one of those two disciples, I would be thinking:  “I am stealing this donkey and who knows what is going to happen.”

Donkeys to people then were as valuable as cars are to us now. And never ride means it is not broken. Is this donkey is going to resist and cause a scene? And who knows what the owner is going to do. Call for the Romans to arrest them?

Back in the day a person engaged in stealing horses is known as a horse thief. And Historically, if you were caught in several cultures pronouncing the sentence of death upon actual or presumed thieves. We all watched cowboy movies before... But even today a horse theft is comparable to automobile theft, a crime punishable by felony jail time. So, it is still very serious to steal a horse.

In verse 3 Jesus says, “If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?’ say, 'The Lord needs it.'”  So, Jesus gives them the password to get the colt. “The Lord needs it.”  And that is exactly what does happen. They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied up. As they untied it, just as you would expect, some people standing there demanded, “What are you doing there, untying that colt?” And they gave the secret password, “The Lord needs it.” And the people let them go. Now, how do you explain that? What Jesus told them would happen, is exactly what happens!

Again, since they must have not understood who Jesus is yet, Jesus is showing them and us,…. “He is the Lord.” Just as He says in verse 3, “The Lord needs it.” Jesus is saying, I have ways of knowing things into the future, and I am the King of kings. And as King and Lord, I have the right to commandeer property that I need.

Back in the Old Testament, there is a story of King Ahab. He sees this vineyard that he thinks is amazing. He wants to buy the real estate; however, the owner won’t sell it to him. So, his wife who was the evil Jezebel, has the owner murdered, and he gets the vineyard. You see when you are in power, you take what you want…  Pretty much as it is today….

But Jesus is this new kind of King. He says, “The Lord needs it and will send it back” here shortly. “I have the right to commandeer it, but I will return it to you.” Look at this phrase, “The Lord needs it,” because when we hear that… English teachers call an oxymoron. ….. It is where you have two words that should not go next to each other because they contradict each other.

Like...  Act naturally… Alone together…Amazingly awful… Bittersweet…Clearly confused...…Deafening silence…Definitely maybe… jumbo shrimp or Fresh frozen, which is it—is it “fresh” or is it “frozen?”  Well, “the Lord needs it” is an oxymoron.

How is it that the Lord who needs nothing needs it? In Psalm 50:10 and 12, the Lord says this: “For every animal of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. … If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and all that is in it.” God needs nothing.  And yet Jesus is the Lord, yet He needs the donkey.

You see Jesus is the grand marshal of the parade and He doesn’t even own a donkey to ride in on. Jesus has so humbled Himself as the Lord, He so emptied Himself that He doesn’t own the donkey that He needs. He is in need.

Philippians 2: 5-11 says, “If you are a follower of Jesus you must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

So now, how does all this apply to us? Imagine that we are the people who happen to own this donkey colt and we are excited about it, and it turns out that we get the request: “The Lord needs it.”

I know how I would be if somebody said, “I saw you just brought home that car. It looks fantastic. It’s so shiny. Can I take it to California? We will only use it for two weeks. What would you say?  “I don’t think so, right?

And Jesus, who is Lord of all and ultimately in need of nothing, has so emptied Himself that now He comes to us and He says, “I’m riding into Jerusalem to die for you, and I need this.” Let me ask you this.” What is it that Jesus Christ has been nudging you to make available to Him?

Is it your time?.... You are not serving God and you have plenty of time to do so… But you don’t. Or is it your money?... Maybe you have never tithed, and God is saying it is time you stop robbing me of what belongs to Me...  Maybe it is your life? You have never truly given your life to the Lord. And you know it…  Maybe it is your worship? He is saying, “Open your heart to me. The Lord needs it.” … Maybe it is your obedience? You have been living long enough in disobedience. He is saying to you right now, “The Lord needs it.”

Now, imagine what would happen if when the Lord Jesus comes to us and says, “The Lord needs it,” you and I release whatever that is to Him. The good news is this: He will return it. You give Him your worship and He returns it to you with joy.

You give Him your obedience, He returns it with righteous peace in the Holy Spirit… You give Him anything, He says, “I’ll give you a hundred times as much in this life and in the life to come, eternal life.”

When you give to God, He just returns it and returns it and returns it. That’s the overflow that you give to Him when He says, “I need it” and He returns it.

I think about these people who owned that donkey. I have a feeling that after that day they said, “You see that donkey over there—I’ll never sell her. Because it was on the back of that donkey that the Messiah, the King, rode into Jerusalem, and I’m so glad that when the time came and I heard the words, ‘The Lord needs it,’

Folks, is there something in your life where Jesus has been nudging you to make it available for Him? Whatever it is, why not start today and release it at once, because He is the Lord, and He needs it!