Sermon Notes
“May the Right Writer Write”
LENT – Part 6
March 29, 2026
Mark – “The Gospel of Action”
- Mark’s perspective is perfect for examining Jesus’s Triumphal Entry.
- We may struggle, trying to see ourselves reflected in the people who cried “Hosanna!” one moment,
and “Crucify him!” the next, but…
- Going on this journey with Jesus, we discover that we too are often guilty of trying to write God’s story
for our lives.
Mark provides backstory for Jesus’s trip into Jerusalem.
32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him.
33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”
Mark 10:32-34
46 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
Mark 10:46-52
1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 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. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”
4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.
9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
Mark 11:1-11
Two Essential Questions for This Morning:
1. What was Jesus communicating to the people then and there when he did what he did that Sunday?
2. What is he still saying to us here and now, two-thousand years later?
It’s significant that Mark tells us Jesus was leading the way.
“As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.”
Luke 9:51
- The disciples are “astonished,” the people “afraid.”
- Jesus arrives on a donkey. What’s the point?
“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having
salvation…”
Zechariah 9:9
Jesus is making a statement to the people of Jerusalem.
How do we answer our first essential question?
- Jesus is the savior for whom Israel was waiting. However…
- What does it mean to “seek first God’s kingdom”?
- How often do we make demands of God?
How do we answer our second essential question?
- Jesus is ready and willing to do amazing things in and through and for you. However…
- In his letters, how does Paul usually pray for people?
- To know God is to trust Him, and come to experience His peace.
- Jesus is our Prince of Peace. He doesn’t come charging in on a warhorse.
“…for any Christian, a chosen Christian life . . . can feel like a long defeat. But in our willingness to fight the long
defeat, to make choices that seem to diminish us . . . [our] very renunciation is itself the victory, just as the cross
is the only way to resurrection.”
Malcolm Guite
“True strength manifest[s] itself not in the exercise of power, but in the willingness to give it up.”
Tom Holland
This is what Jesus modelled, ultimately so on the cross, and it’s what’s demanded of us if we’re going to let him lead.