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Palm Sunday has always marked the countdown to the Cross and to the Empty Tomb, the greatest days in the history of the Universe. As we open to Mark 11, I desire that the truth of this great day in Christ’s life touches each of our lives today.
Palm Sunday also marks the start of Passion Week, recording the days of Christ’s final earthly ministry before the Cross. The Four Gospels record Christ’s life in 89 chapters, His Final Week fills more than 1/3rd of the chapters of the Gospels: from Matthew 21 on, Mark 11 on, Luke 19 on, and John 12 onward. Also:
Palm Sunday was in the Top 3 Events: Before Palm Sunday, only one other event in Christ’s life is covered by all of the Gospels: the Feeding of the 5,000. After Palm Sunday, only one event fills all four of the Gospels: His Death, Burial, and Resurrection.
So, among the events that God wanted us to focus on, especially in His Word, Palm Sunday is the middle of those top three events. To summarize what was going on prior to Mark 11, we could say that after over three years of ministry, the deadly tensions Jesus faced from the national leaders of the Jewish people were the highest anyone had ever known.
In the week before Palm Sunday, Lazarus had fallen gravely ill and then died in Bethany, and was buried. People everywhere were now talking about what happened to Lazarus, who had been dead and buried in his tomb for four days, and now he is alive.
Jews of the day had a superstition that a dead person’s spirit hovered above the corpse for 3 days and then left. On the fourth day, the person was considered really gone.
Jesus waited (John 11:39) so that on the fourth day, when He raised Lazarus, no one could think there was any hope of his returning. When Jesus raised Lazarus, He offered the seventh and final “sign” that the Gospel of John was designed around, and records. Jesus gave these signs to authenticate His Deity.
After the resurrection of Lazarus, John 11:45 records that “many” Jews believed, and that is what triggered those explosively high tensions that culminated in the Crucifixion. It seemed that Everyone Had Heard about Christ’s Miraculous Powers.
As Jesus entered Jerusalem in Mark 11, a man followed Him who had also amazed the crowds. One of the busiest roads in the Land of Israel was the Jerusalem to Jericho Road. In Mark 10, if you look back a few verses from our passage for today, you can see the healing of blind Bartimaeus in v. 46-52.
(PW-08; 110417AM)
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