12 

The False Coronation of the True King
(Mark 11:1–11) 

As they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near 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 there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here.” They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it. Some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it. And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!” Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late. (11:1–11)

This passage introduces the final week of our Lord’s life and public ministry. The week began with His arrival at Jerusalem on the tenth day of the first month in the Jewish calendar, the month Nisan, in the year A.D. 30. That was Passover Week; the triumphal entry was on Monday the tenth, and Passover followed on Friday the fourteenth of the month.

The traditional title for the event described in this passage, the triumphal entry, does not capture what was happening. This was not in any sense—earthly, Jewish, or heavenly—the coronation of Jesus Christ. The crowd’s delirious reaction was not a genuine expression of faith in or praise for Israel’s true King. There were no formalities associated with the event; no dignitaries, no regalia, no fanfare. Nor was this event God’s coronation of His Son. Despite its outward appearance, it was an event unlike any other coronation. Coronations are not humble, unexpected, spontaneous, unofficial, or superficial. This event was all of those. Nor are true coronations reversed a few days afterward, with the one who had been exalted and praised being rejected and executed. Although Jesus was heaven’s true King, deserving of all exaltation, honor, worship, and praise, this was not a real coronation; it was, in fact, the false coronation of the true King.

The official investiture of the Lord Jesus Christ takes place in two stages. The first, His heavenly coronation, took place at His ascension when “He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:3; cf. 1:13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2), and “God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name” (Phil. 2:9). The second, earthly phase of His coronation will take place in the future. The Lord Jesus will return to earth, not riding on a donkey’s colt but coming out of heaven on a white horse followed by the armies of heaven (holy angels and redeemed people), also riding on white horses (Rev. 19:11–15). When He arrives, He will judge and destroy the ungodly, and establish His throne in Jerusalem. Jesus will reign there for a thousand years in the millennial kingdom (Rev. 20:4) and beyond that throughout all eternity in the new heaven and the new earth (Luke 1:33; cf. Isa. 9:7; Dan. 2:44).

Mark’s account of this event began as Jesus and those accompanying Him approached Jerusalem, ascending the steep path leading up the hill from Jericho. The Lord’s public ministry in Galilee, Judea, and Perea was ended, and His death was little more than a week away. The entourage of people with Jesus had grown after two startling events took place in the vicinity of Jericho: the healing and salvation of two blind beggars (see the exposition of 10:46–52 in the previous chapter of this volume) and the conversion of the hated and reviled tax collector Zaccheus (Luke 19:2–9). Those events, coupled with the Lord’s recent raising of Lazarus from the dead, heightened the crowd’s excitement and enthusiasm as they headed for Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, the high point of the Jewish year.

Not only was this supposed coronation bogus, it was also premature. Before Jesus comes to reign, He had to die (cf. the discussion of 10:32–34 in chapter 9 of this volume). Up to this point Jesus had not permitted an open, public declaration that He was the Messiah. After Peter’s affirmation that He was the “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16), Jesus “warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ” (v. 20). Following the spectacular miracle of the feeding of the five thousand plus in Galilee, the people exclaimed, “‘This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone” (John 6:14–15), thwarting their attempt. The Lord knew that any significant public escalation of His popularity would increase the threat He posed to the Jewish leaders. That might have provoked them to bring about His death prematurely.

Now, however, the time had come in the divinely determined plan for Jesus to die. He therefore permitted such a massive display of popular acclaim (some suggest there may have been as many as one hundred thousand people involved in the triumphal entry procession) that the religious leaders had no choice. The threat of a revolt by the estimated two million people who flooded Jerusalem for Passover could not be ignored. As the religious leaders well knew, that would provoke a massive response from the Romans, resulting in the destruction of the nation and the loss of their own privileged position (John 11:47–50).

THE FAITHFUL ARRIVAL

at Bethphage and Bethany, near 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 there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here.” They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it. Some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it. (11:1b–7)

On Saturday six days before the Passover (John 12:1), Jesus arrived at the small villages of Bethphage (possibly “house of figs”) and Bethany (possibly “house of dates”), near the Mount of Olives. On the next day, Sunday, He attended a dinner in His honor at the home of Simon the leper in Bethany (Matt. 26:6–13). On that same day a “large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead” (John 12:9).

Christ’s entry into Jerusalem took place the following day (John 12:12), Monday of Passion Week, not on Sunday as Christians have traditionally believed. This chronology eliminates the problem of the Gospels having no record of Jesus’ activities on Wednesday, which would be the case if the triumphal entry were on Sunday. It is difficult to explain how there could be a day omitted in the account of the most momentous week of Christ’s life, especially since the events of all the other days are carefully accounted for.

Further evidence that the triumphal entry was on Monday comes from the Law’s requirement that the Passover lambs be selected on the tenth day of the first month (Nisan) and sacrificed on the fourteenth day (Ex. 12:2–6). In the year our Lord was crucified, the tenth of Nisan fell on Monday of Passover Week. When He entered Jerusalem on that day, Jesus came to fulfill the role of the Father’s chosen Lamb (John 1:29, 36) in much the same way and on the same day as the Jewish people chose their Passover lambs. Completing the parallel, Christ, the one true sacrifice that took away sin, was killed on Friday, the fourteenth day of Nisan, with thousands of other lambs, whose blood could never take away sin (cf. Heb. 10:4).

According to this chronology of Passion Week, Jesus returned to Bethany Monday night after the triumphal entry, and came back into Jerusalem on Tuesday, when He cursed the fig tree and cleansed the temple. On Wednesday He was involved in controversy with the leaders of Israel, gave a sermon on His second coming, and Judas planned his betrayal of Him. On Thursday His disciples prepared for the Passover meal, which they celebrated in the upper room. From there the Lord and the disciples went to Gethsemane, where He was betrayed and arrested. After several trials before the Sanhedrin and the secular rulers Pilate and Herod Thursday night into early Friday morning, the Lord was crucified on Friday. Saturday He was in the grave and Sunday He came back to life.

On Monday, the Lord sent two of His disciples (perhaps Peter and John; cf. Luke 22:8), and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you (probably Bethphage, since Jesus was likely staying with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany), and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. The details of what the disciples found there clearly demonstrate Christ’s omniscience (cf. John 1:47–48; 2:25). He told them that they would find a donkey (John 12:14; cf. Zech. 9:9) colt (and its mother; Matt. 21:22) tied. Jesus had not been to Bethphage, nor had He sent anyone to arrange for the colt to be available. The detail that the colt was one on which no one yet had ever sat provides further evidence of His omniscience, as does His knowledge that the disciples would be asked as they untied the colt, “Why are you untying it?” (Luke 19:31). The Lord also knew that when they replied, “The Lord has need of it,” the colt’s owner (evidently a believer in Jesus) and the bystanders would permit them to take it.

Events unfolded just as the omniscient Lord had said they would. The two disciples went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it. As Jesus had predicted, some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” But the disciples spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. The two men brought the colt to Jesus (most likely back in Bethany) and put their coats on it, forming a makeshift saddle so that the Lord would not have to ride bareback, and He sat on it.

It is true that David rode a mule (1 Kings 1:33, 38, 44), which Solomon also rode to his coronation (1 Kings 1:32–40). But by riding the donkey colt, Jesus was not merely identifying with Davidic tradition. Instead, “This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: ‘Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold your king is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden”’” (Matt. 21:4–5). Matthew was referring to a prophecy made centuries earlier by Zechariah, who wrote, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zech. 9:9). That Jesus meekly rode a donkey’s colt signifies the reality that in His first coming He came not to reign but to die.

Jesus fulfilled another Old Testament prophecy that day, Daniel’s prophecy of the seventy weeks. As various scholars (most notably Sir Robert Anderson [The Coming Prince] and Harold Hoehner [Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ]) have demonstrated, the day that He entered Jerusalem was the precise date predicted by Daniel centuries earlier. The significance of what was happening largely escaped the disciples. Looking back on this event decades later, John wrote, “These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified [after the ascension], then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him” (John 12:16).

THE FAITHLESS APPROVAL

And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!” (11:8–10)

As Jesus approached Jerusalem, the crowd’s excitement intensified. Many of the people spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. Spreading their coats in the road in front of Jesus was a customary way of expressing submission to a monarch. It acknowledged that the king was elevated above the common people, and symbolically affirmed that they were under his feet. Superficially and momentarily at least, the crowd was acknowledging Jesus as the messianic king. The leafy branches of palm trees (John 12:13), which others in the crowd had cut from the fields, symbolized joy and victory. According to the apocryphal book of First Maccabees, when the Jews during the intertestamental period recaptured Jerusalem from the Syrians, they “entered it with praise and palm branches” (1 Macc. 13:51; cf. 2 Macc. 10:7).

The crowd’s enthusiasm stemmed in large part from “all the miracles which they had seen” (Luke 19:37). Those miracles included the recent bringing Lazarus back from being dead for four days, and the healing of the two blind men at Jericho. Expressing their excitement and hope, the people were shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!” The exclamation Hosanna (“Save now”) was a messianic accolade, which Matthew links to the messianic title Son of David (Matt. 21:9, 15; cf. Mark 12:35). The expressions Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord (cf. Ps. 118:26) and Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David also express messianic praise and hope. The crowd’s exclamation, “Hosanna in the highest!” was the supreme expression of praise.

The people, however, were not pleading for salvation from sin but for blessing, prosperity, and deliverance from Roman rule and oppression. They sought the fulfillment of all the promises connected with Messiah’s reign. And when Jesus did not deliver those promises, which will be fulfilled in connection with His second coming, their faithless approval would turn to hostile rejection. As noted earlier, Jesus came the first time to die (10:32–34, 45). Tragically, many who on Monday exuberantly hailed Him as the Messiah and shouted praises to God would on Friday scream for His execution. Thus, they would share in the responsibility for the death of their Messiah, as Peter declared in his sermon on the day of Pentecost:

While for the moment their hopes were sky-high, their faithless praise did not fool Jesus:

They would reject Him, and in response God would bring down on themselves devastating judgment at the hands of the Romans, resulting in the destruction of the nation.

THE FATEFUL APPRAISAL

Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late. (11:11)

Mark’s anticlimactic statement reinforces the reality that this was no true coronation. At the same time, it foreshadows the Lord’s assault on the temple, which would take place the following day (Tuesday). Having come into the temple, Jesus, after looking around at all the corruption there, left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late in the day.

Like the fickle crowd, sinners will turn on Jesus when He does not satisfy their selfish whims. False coronations like the one described in this passage take place every day. Unscrupulous false teachers promise their deluded followers that Jesus will make them rich, heal them, fulfill all their dreams, and grant all their desires. When such unbiblical, selfish, man-centered promises fail to come to pass, and trouble comes into their lives instead, many grow disillusioned and turn against Jesus. (I examine the danger posed by the prosperity gospel in my books Strange Fire [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2013], and Charismatic Chaos [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992].)

The redeemed, on the other hand, acknowledge Jesus as their sovereign King (Acts 17:7; cf. Rev. 17:14; 19:16), worthy of their complete submission (1 Peter 3:15; cf. 2 Cor. 4:5) and reverent worship (Matt. 14:33; 28:9, 17; Luke 24:52; John 9:38; cf. Heb. 1:6). Theirs is a true coronation of Jesus; as the writer of the familiar hymn “Lead Me to Calvary” expressed it,

King of my life, I crown Thee now,

Thine shall the glory be.