Mark Chapter 11 verses 1 to 11
"For vain man would be wise, though man be born [like] a wild ass's colt." (Job11:12)
Job 11:12 presents us with the ass's colt as a picture of man in his self will.
You can't herd wild asses!
This theme of the self willed ass is consistent through scripture. One notable example of this comes in the contrast between Israels' first two kings: Saul and David. Saul was a man for the people, head and shoulders above everyone else but David was a man "after Gods own heart".
When Samuel comes to anoint Saul he is looking for his father's asses in the wilderness (1Samuel chp 9) but when Samuel comes to anoint David he is looking after his fathers sheep (1Samuel 16)! The wild ass is a picture of man given over to self and to his own mind and will, this was always the problem with Saul from his anointing till his death, he did as he pleased and went where he pleased, sparing Agag and the best of the sheep in 1 Samuel 15 and offering up sacrifices to the Lord, a thing prohibited for the Kings and reserved for the priest (1 Samuel 13:9). The problem with being self willed and self centred and determined to go and get our own way is that sometimes God can cease to strife with us and give us our own way, "and the end thereof is the way of death."
Matthew tells us that the colt of Mark 11 was the foal of the ass, and so here in Mark chapter 11 we have the story of the asses colt upon which no one had ever sat (11:2).
The Saviour gives His disciples a 3 fold instruction :
1 - Find him (11:2)
2 - Loose him (11:2)
3 - Bring him (11:2)
Christ has found me: "I am come to seek and to save that which was lost"
Has He loosed me from that which binds me?
Have I been brought to Him?
Notice where the colt is found: "And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him." - a place of decision, a crossroads in life. The colt could either turn right or left at the place where two ways meet.
Life consists of many decisions, and often many footsteps over very many years but a crossroads is a dangerous place to be for there is at a crossroads only a few footsteps of a difference between faithfulness and failure, between the right direction and the opposite direction! This was a place of decision and a decision against a background of potential fruitfulness for Christ; notice the setting for all of this, given in Mark 11:1:
"Bethphage" - House of figs
"Bethany" - House of Dates
"Mount of Olives" - fruit of olive tree
A will given over to Christ brings me into fruitfulness for Him.
After this encounter with the colt the theme of Marks gospel changes to that of fruitfulness:
Fruitfulness (or otherwise) of the Fig tree (11:20-24)
Fruitfulness (or otherwise) of the Vineyard (12:1-12)
Christ sits pre-eminent on the colt "whereon never man sat" (11:2)
Was this fruitful?
Is it possible for an ass to be fruitful for Christ???
Upon his back Christ rode into Jerusalem, hear the cries:
"And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Blessed [be] the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest." (Mk 11:9-10)
Christ rode on the back of an ass upon which never man had sat before. Christ was pre-eminent, and the will of the ass subject to the Master carried Him in to acclamations of praise and worship! What a fruitful service to bear up Christ to the worship and wonder of men!!!
You won't be out done by an old ass will you??
click here to listen to a message preached on this subject
Yours in Christ
Stewart
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