Mark 11:1-3

‘And when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sends two of his disciples and says to them, “Go your way into the village that is over against you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no man has ever sat. Loose him and bring him. And if anyone says to you, “Why do you do this?” You say, “The Lord has need of him”, and immediately he will send him back here.”

We may probably see from this that Jesus had made arrangements with friends, either in Bethany or in Bethphage, for an asses colt to be ready and had arranged a password (‘the Lord has need of him’) for its collection. It was quite normal in such outlying villages for asses to be available for hire. Or it may be that He was making use of the custom of ‘angaria’ under which a major religious figure was entitled to procure for himself the use of a means of transport for a period of time by a simple act of appropriation. ‘The Lord has need of them’ would then be seen as indicating this.

We are in fact probably intended by the evangelists to see in the use of the title ‘the Lord’ a deliberate indication that this was an unusual situation by which Jesus’ supreme authority was being revealed. Alternatively ‘The Lord’ may refer to God, in Whose Name Jesus was acting (see Mark 11:9 - it is not commonly used of Jesus in Mark) indicating that what He was about to do had God’s approval, for He was coming in His Name. A third possibility is that it was the title by which the owners themselves acknowledged Jesus. Whichever way it was the whole arrangement indicates that Jesus has a special significance in what He is about to do. It may well therefore be that the ass’s colt was in fact being offered for His free use as a major religious figure in accordance with the custom of angaria without previous arrangement. It is interesting that it was an asses colt on which no one had ever ridden. It was thus unschooled and not broken in. To ride such a colt would require great skill and an affinity with the colt. A famous jockey who read these words for the first time was hugely impressed and was heard to cry out, “My, what hands He must have had”.

But this ass was to be used for a sacred purpose and therefore it had to be unused and unbroken as had all that was first used in the Temple and its worship (compare Numbers 19:2; Deuteronomy 21:3, and see also 1 Samuel 6:7; ). And Jesus had clearly carefully made such an arrangement. It was an indication of the wholeness and spotlessness of the One Who rode it (Solomon rode on his father’s mule).

In spite of appearances from this Gospel, however, this was not His first visit to Jerusalem since He began His ministry. Nor could it be. We have seen earlier that there are indications that a few years have passed, and each year He would certainly have attended Passover and probably other feasts as well (as John tells us) for as a pious Jew He would seek to fulfil the requirement to go to Jerusalem at least once a year during one of the three great feasts, and Passover was seen as especially significant. And it helps to explain His great friendship with Lazarus, Mary and Martha in Bethany which would have arisen during these visits. This also explains why He could say to Jerusalem, “How often would I have gathered your children together even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not’ (Matthew 23:37 compare Luke 13:34). That also demonstrates that He had come to Jerusalem a number of times ,and it shows that He had been treated coldly.

Bethany (House of Dates) and Bethphage (House of Figs) were villages very close to Jerusalem, Bethany being on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives. They were within a Sabbath day’s journey (Acts 1:12), and Bethany, ‘fifteen furlongs off’ (John 11:18 - but much depends where it was measured from) was treated as an overflow lodging-place for pilgrims to the Passover when Jerusalem was full. Bethphage, nearer to Jerusalem, is often mentioned as the outer limit within which sacred things could be prepared or used.

Even the password is significant. “The Lord has need of him.” By ‘Lord’ Jesus may well have meant God, or possibly even the owner (‘the master’) if the owner was seen as being with Jesus and His disciples and he had made such an arrangement with him, but Mark probably intends us to understand its full meaning and refer it to Jesus as King.

‘Immediately he will send him back here.’ Possibly a part of the message and a confirmation that the colt was only being borrowed and would be returned shortly. Alternately Jesus was saying, ‘do not worry, they will immediately respond’ (see Matthew 21:3).