Lent 2026 Day 34: Sat 28 Mar
Mark 11:1-7
1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent out two of His disciples 2 and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will return it shortly.’” 4 So they went and found the colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. They untied it, 5 and some who were standing there asked, “Why are you untying the colt?” 6 The disciples answered as Jesus had instructed them, and the people gave them permission. 7 Then they led the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, and He sat on it.
It’s amazing that we’ve only covered six chapters of Mark! But we now must leave the narrative flow to concentrate on Holy Week. We won’t cover all of it, because Mark, along with the other Gospel-writers, expands the time scale and broadens the action to cover the many things that happened in the week before Jesus’ death.
There’s a colt waiting. Had Jesus arranged all this beforehand, was he pulling in some favours, or did he just know? We should always place Jesus’ humanity against his divinity and not muddle them together. Jesus does not automatically “know” things because he is divine. In Paul’s letter to the new church at Philippi that we know as Philippians, chapter two we read:
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.
God the Son took on human form. To do that he had to lay aside aspects of his divinity (“emptied himself”). God is not a servant, but Jesus became one. While still fully divine Jesus took on human form to become like us. It is because he became as one of us, not allowing his divinity to take short cuts or to present special passes, that we may identify with this man. In his earthly life he effectively started from scratch. The infant Jesus grew to know and understand who he was. Satan and his minions instantly recognised his divine authority, but it took a while before the denarius dropped for Peter after a revelation from Father God.
Last Thursday we read that he told his disciples that they will do the works he has done, and more. And they did, once the Holy Spirit, the Enabler, came upon them.
The owner of the colt doesn’t appear in the story, just some bystanders, who may or may not have had a connection with the colt’s owner, who himself may or may not have been aware that Jesus was going to borrow it! It was a young animal, and it had never carried anyone before. We might even ask if the colt or its owner had any idea of its special role as the bearer of God’s Messiah into the Holy City? Once the task of entering the city with Jesus on its back was over, the two disciples would have taken it back to the village it came from.
Was it normal to just borrow other people’s possessions? Possibly not. And why did Jesus warn his disciples that some people would query what they were doing when they came to fetch the colt? Had Jesus pre-arranged this event? I’m not sure. It would make the story more plausible, but why include the warning about being challenged? The two disciples were not told to say, “Jesus needs it, and has pre-arranged it all”, but “The Lord needs it…” There’d have been no need to explain that they’d bring it back soon, either. Surely, if things were pre-arranged, there’d be no need for explanations.
What do you think happened?
Father God, there are tasks that you have assigned specifically to me. You need me to respond when you call. I need not ask why or even expect to know the reason, but I trust in your complete knowledge and your perfect plan. Open my ears to your call. Amen.
Paul