Week 37: Day 1

Intro: Hey there, guys, and welcome back to Orbit. My name is Josh and for the next five days, I'll be walking us through some short five-minute devotions starting in Mark between chapters 11 and 13 and then a chapter from the Psalms. Today we're going to be looking at Mark chapter 11. And I'll be reading to us from verses one up to six, sort of follow me if you've got a Bible.

Bible: As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”

They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.

Thoughts: Contextually now what is about to happen is Jesus is about to enter into Jerusalem. This is important for several reasons. His entering into Jerusalem has been predicted thousands of years in the past. Zechariah talks about how the Messiah will enter into Jerusalem on a donkey, just as we see here in the passage. Also several chapters before here in Mark, Jesus predicts his death in Jerusalem. So now, entering into the city where he knows he is going to die, is a big deal and it’s a sort of a shift from Mark into the last phase of his message.

We also see more of Jesus's omniscience, which is his all knowingness in the passage. Jesus knows exactly where the donkey is tied. Not only that, but he knows exactly what to say to the people who are standing by he tells the disciples what to say to them. And this is something that we can apply to our own lives as well. If there's ever a moment in your life, where you are wondering what to do, how to handle a situation. We've got it here, but Jesus knows everything. He can give us the words to speak in any given situation. And they work. They bring the colt to Jesus, the unridden colt.

The donkey is significant for another reason. The Messiah, in the minds of Old Testament Jews, was a warrior. He was the son of David, one of Israel's greatest ever, warriors and kings. He was going to come in and he was metaphorically going to lift oppression from the Jewish people. But rather than the metaphorical oppression, the Jews at the time were more worried about the more real oppression that the Romans applied. Jerusalem and the whole Judea was under Roman control so there were a lot of people in the Jewish community who thought the coming of the Messiah would be the start to a glorious revolution, a violent uprising against the Romans. This is not at all what Jesus came for, and he rode in on a donkey – not a war horse, not a not a symbol of resistance, a donkey – a very humble, a very, not self-centred animal.

And again, the donkey that was predicted thousands of years in the past. The disciples are very obedient in this passage as well. They don't question Jesus, “why do you want a donkey?” They don't ask more questions about their task. They go to exactly where Jesus has said, they tell the people standing there exactly what Jesus told them to say and in doing so they're able to retrieve the donkey, the colt, successfully. So, if you're looking in your own life, and you kind of you find parts of it that you wish you were more listening to God in, or you find parts where you feel you could have the words given to you ask God, I'm going to pray quickly now for us. And I'm just going to pray a simple prayer.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, thank You that You know the words I should be saying, and you know the outcome of events before they happen. I pray that you will give me insight and you will give me wisdom in what I say and that you will help me in my obedience to you. Amen. Amen.

Challenge: And now before you go off and start your day properly, I'm just going to give you a small challenge that you can try and act out today or over the next week. And that's just look for areas in your life where you feel God is telling you go and take the donkey from there. Look out for areas where God can be using you and be as obedient to God's will and also just remember that when you're in line with God's will (as the disciples were) you will be successful and you will be able to achieve what God has put out for you.

Outro: Thank you very much I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!