King Jesus, Palm Sunday, + the End of Empty Religion | Mark 11:1-22
How many of you have had a great week? For some of us, some weeks are just a blur and for others they are life changing. Not every week or day is created equal. There are some weeks or days that change your life or everything about it. Some for good, I remember the week that I got married and the week we had our first child Aaron; those weeks changed my life forever. Some not so good, do you remember the week that COVID became a thing and the world shut down? This week, in Nashville, for those families in Covenant School, their lives changed. There is one week that changed everything forever, it is the week known as the Passion or Holy week. It is the last week of Jesus’ earthly ministry before the Cross and the empty tomb. It is a week that has changed countless billions around the world. It has changed my life.
A few days earlier, for the first time a former blind man publicly declared that Jesus was the Son of David, the Final King. The first ten chapters of Mark have pointed us to this final week. So much of Jesus’ life is about that last week. (Ch. 11-16) In the first three days, Jesus will take three trips to the Temple and all three will be a frontal assault on the religious establishment that will ultimately lead to His death on the Cross. What happens on Palm Sunday and in the Temple tells us why Jesus came and what Jesus came to do. Mark points us to the humble and saving King, Jesus, who came to deliver us from shallow and hollow religion.