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Mark 11:1-11 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

11 When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples ² and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. ³ If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this: ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’ ” ⁴ They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, ⁵ some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶ They told them what Jesus had said, and they allowed them to take it. ⁷ Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. ⁸ Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. ⁹ Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,

“Hosanna!    Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!¹⁰     Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

¹¹ Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple, and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

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When have you found yourself doing something for reasons that you did not fully understand? Maybe you said “yes” before you had all the details. Maybe you stepped into something uncertain, even risky, but were compelled to do it anyway. That is where this story begins. Jesus tells two disciples: “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it.” No explanation given. The disciples proceeded on trust. 

As Jesus and the disciples entered Jerusalem, something bigger was unfolding – something the Gospel of Mark only hints at, but history helps us see more clearly. There were two parades that day.

On one side of the city, entering through the western gate, was Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. He had war horses and soldiers with weapons flashily displayed. This show of force was meant to remind people who was in control. This was power as the world understands it: through dominance, fear, and coercion. And on the other side of the city came a peasant rabbi from Nazareth, riding on a borrowed colt. He had no armor or weapons. And the people with him were waving branches, laying down cloaks, and crying out: “Hosanna!” Which translates to “Save us!” 

The two processions into the city that day illustrated two very different kinds of power. Everything was orchestrated as fulfilment of scripture. The colt echoes the prophet Zechariah’s vision of a king who comes in peace, not war. The palm branches recall the Exodus story of the hope of freedom and liberation for the Israelites. The cloaks on the road were a show of respect, as for royalty. The crowd sees Jesus and thinks: Here is our King. Here is the one sent to liberate us. But they are expecting one kind of liberation, and Jesus brings another. 

Because Jesus is doing something radical. He is redefining what it means to be a king. A king on a donkey, not a warhorse. A king who refuses violence. A movement grounded not in domination, but in love. Jesus teaches resistance of a different kind. Nonviolence as strength. Followers of Jesus must summon the courage to confront injustice through peaceful means, which has the power to transform rather than destroy. 

And yet – we know how this story goes. The same crowd that shouts Hosanna will days later be screaming to have him crucified. Why? Because Jesus did not meet their expectations. He did not seize power. He did not overthrow the Roman government. And when expectations are not met, we can be fickle.

This weekend, the question on my mind is this: What kind of power do we support? Which parade would we have joined? Which protests do we join?

Because the truth is, those two displays of power did not end in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. They are still happening. Any time power is used to intimidate, exclude, or dominate – that parade of Pontious Pilate marches on. And any time people gather to embody justice, compassion, and hope – Jesus is walking with them still. 

Which brings us to now. Yesterday, in cities and small towns, people gathered for “No Kings” protests – public acts of resistance against concentrated power, against systems that dehumanize, against the quiet normalization of injustice. There were signs, and chants, and speakers expressing belief in a better way. There was a collective refusal to accept that things must remain as they are. And if we look at them through the lens of Palm Sunday, the similarities are hard to miss. 

Today, as then, we stand within two conflicting spheres of influence. One built on fear and violence. One built on love and compassion. And the question is: Which vision of the world are we helping bring to life; helping to sustain? 

Maybe, like those first disciples, we are just taking the next step in trust. Maybe we do not fully understand where it leads. But this much is clear: As resurrection people we know that God does not meet violence with greater violence. We know that God meets violence with love that refuses to die. 

To follow Jesus is to choose the path of non-violence, humility, justice, hope, and love.  Jesus refuses to  simply replace one king with another. Instead, he reframes power completely. Not domination, but service. Not coercion, but community. Not violence, but self-giving love.

When people step into the streets marching, chanting, refusing to uphold injustices, they are participating in a sacred and ancient tradition of embodied dissent. They are declaring that faith is not just something we believe but it is something we act out. 

Our invitation this Palm Sunday is to become the kind of people, and the kind of communities, who do not just remember the story, but who live the story. Who do not just celebrate courage, but practice it.  Who do not just hope for change but participate in it. Not through power over others, but through love that transforms everything.

On this Palm Sunday, those two opposing parades are still happening. I wonder…  Which will we join? And when?

Amen

Rev. TJ Mack – March 29, 2026