Mark 11:1-3
Someone
had a great idea. Why do rental cars need to be the newest cars out there? New
cars are expensive. What if we used used cars instead? Cheaper, less concern
for getting dings and dents. Thus RentAWreck was born. Today’s innovations on
this concept are the ride sharing companies. Cars and bikes are both being
tried in an effort to create a business model that will work.
But
so far, a successful business model has not been worked out, at least for the
bikes. All too often the bikes get stolen, or just never returned. And the cars
are still too small a market to be successful on a large scale. So people keep
trying new things.
The
thing that is lacking is not so much with the concept of sharing, but with the lack
of integrity of the human heart. A system of sharing will only work with
honest, non-self-centered people. And our world is in a short supply of these.
These are not values that have been taught and caught well by younger
generations from the older. We have values curriculum in schools, but the
students don’t necessarily see living examples around them.
Jesus
arrives in the area of Jerusalem for the Passover feast. Places to stay would
be scarce with tens of thousands of visitors stretching the housing resources.
All the nearby towns and villages would have been brimming with extra people. Everyone
made room for visitors in their homes. Any place someone could bunk was open.
Bethany
was about two miles from Jerusalem, less than an hour walk. Jesus knows about a
rideshare kiosk in the area. The tells two of His disciples to go and swipe His
member card and pick up a set of wheels for His journey into Jerusalem.
Jesus’
choice of a colt is highly symbolic. It ties right into the prophecies in the
Old Testament concerning Himself. The Messiah is predicted to ride on a donkey
into Jerusalem. So Jesus sends His disciples to the colt kiosk.
What
Jesus asks His disciples to do took faith on their part to carry out. They
could go there and not find a donkey. Then they would return as failures. They
could be accused of attempting to steal the colt and end up in jail, or with a
hand cut off. They could go, find the donkey, speak to the people, but the
people might want them to put up a security deposit on the rental. They would
return humiliated and empty handed. They didn’t have a credit card to use for
the security deposit.
We
don’t know if Jesus had made these arrangements with the owner on a previous
visit to Jerusalem. Perhaps the owner had responded to the invitation to become
a follower. Maybe it was someone who had been healed by Jesus, and so would
have been counted on to joyfully provide for their new Master. Or perhaps it
was an insight Jesus had, an ability to see the donkey tied there without
having to be there.