Jesus Examines His Temple

May 1st, 2025
by Lance Waldie

Mark 11:7-11 They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it. 8 And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. 9 Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: “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!” 11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.

After doing what Jesus told them to do in fetching the donkey and colt, just imagine what the disciples thought when they strolled into the small village and found everything as Jesus told them they would—the colt, the donkey, and the owners who questioned them. But bringing the colt to Jesus must have confused them, for Jesus had walked everywhere else around Palestine up to this point. So why would He request a colt in which to ride into town on that day? The answer was of course to fulfill the Zechariah 9:9 prophecy. In fact, if Jesus had not come into Jerusalem on a colt on that specific day, He could not have been the Messiah. Yet He did!

Verse 8 shows the ancient custom of spreading garments on the road for a monarch to ride over, a sign of respect for authority. John’s account of this reveals that the branches were from palm trees, a symbol of deliverance and joy. This coincides with Revelation 7:9 where a great multitude of people are bowing down before Jesus with palm branches as they worship Him. The multitudes in v. 8 go before Jesus as he rides in, and they are shouting a song of praise saying, “Hosanna.” This is a Hebrew word meaning “save now.” They were shouting for the “son of David” to “save now!” Their cries were filled with joy as their expectation of salvation through their Messiah was now at hand. “Salvation in the highest!” was their cry, for this crowd was convinced that Jesus was going to Jerusalem to sit on David’s throne and overthrow the Romans. This was the same crowd that had just witnessed the blind Bartimaeus receive his sight (Mark 10:46-52). Yet in spite of their amazement, their fickle nature would kick in just days later.

Jerusalem at that time was starting to fill with hundreds of thousands of people because the annual Passover Feast was only days away, and most Jews came for this week-long feast. As they entered Jerusalem, the day was coming to an end, and Jesus merely went to the temple, looked around, and went back to His home base in Bethany following a long day of travel from Jericho almost 18 miles away. As the Lord of the Temple, possibly Jesus was inspecting it to determine if its intended purpose was being fulfilled, the true worship of Yahweh. This was a quiet ending to the day, but it was merely the calm before the storm. The next day Jesus would return and literally shake things up causing his opponents to hate Him all the more.

Food for thought
Luke 19:41-44 says that Jesus wept over Jerusalem the day He entered it and lamented its future, saying that her enemies would surround it, level it the ground along with the children of the city and leave no stone on top of another. Why? Jesus said, “Because you did not recognize the time of your visitation” (v. 44). I think Jesus went into the temple that day and looked around in the same sense that He is looking into the minds and hearts of those who call Him Lord but who refuse to submit to Him as such. I think His weeping is indicative then, as now, about the future He sees in us if we refuse to repent of the sinful things we participate in, calling them our “pet sins.” Jerusalem fell about 35 years after Jesus prophesied against her in AD 70, and she fell with a collapse that kept her desolate until 1948 because her inhabitants refused to repent. I wonder what future Jesus sees in you today when He looks in your temple. Does He see misery? Repent of your sins today before God has to get your attention through judgment. Do it now.