A Donkey and A Dividing Wall | Week 9 | Facing Prometheus

What does a donkey have to do with a demolished wall? In Week 9 of our series Facing Prometheus: A Letter to the Ephesians and the Future Church Dilemma, Pastor Jason Parrish draws a direct line between the triumphal entry in Mark 11 and Paul’s sweeping declaration in Ephesians 2 — revealing that Palm Sunday is far more than a celebration. It is the opening act of a plan of reconciliation that would tear down the deepest walls of human division and create something entirely new.

As we enter this sacred Easter season, here is what we explored together.

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Opening Scripture — Ephesians 2:11–19

“So, then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh — called ‘the uncircumcised’ by those called ‘the circumcised,’ which is done in the flesh by human hands. At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh, he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace. He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death. He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”

— Ephesians 2:11–19 (CSB)

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Palm Sunday: The Procession That Changes Everything

Today we view the text of Ephesians 2 in light of Palm Sunday and the Holy Week we are now entering. Palm Sunday is the procession of peace that leads to the demolition of division and the creation of a new people in Christ.

There is something powerful about refusing to leave Palm Sunday in the Gospels alone. The Gospels give us the scene while Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, gives us the meaning. Mark shows us a donkey and Paul shows us a demolished wall. And if you hold those two together long enough, you start to realize that Palm Sunday is not just a moment of celebration — it is the opening act of a plan of reconciliation.

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The Text — Mark 11:1–10

“When they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and told them, ‘Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, “Why are you doing this?” say, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here right away.”‘

So they went and found a colt outside in the street, tied by a door. They untied it, and some of those standing there said to them, ‘What are you doing, untying the colt?’ They answered them just as Jesus had said; so they let them go. They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and he sat on it. Many people spread their clothes on the road, and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted:

Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

— Mark 11:1–10 (CSB)

Palm Sunday represents a proverbial line in the sand that Jesus would cross as he advanced toward the ultimate purpose of his life — death, burial, and eventual resurrection. The match had been struck. The fuse had been lit. What follows from this moment cannot be undone.

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Setting the Scene: Jerusalem, Bethphage, and Bethany

Context matters. This moment finds Jesus at Jerusalem, near Bethphage and Bethany, on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives. The Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible describes Palm Sunday this way:

“The day commemorating Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem, during which the multitude spread palm branches in front of Jesus as he came into the city. The event is attested in all four Gospels (Matt. 21:1–11; Mark 11:1–10; Luke 19:28–38; John 12:12–18), although only John 12:13 mentions palm branches specifically. Palm Sunday is celebrated the Sunday before Easter and thereby marks the beginning of Holy Week in both the Eastern and Western Church traditions.”

The Bible Knowledge Commentary fills in the geography:

“Less than a mile southeast of Jerusalem was the village of Bethphage (lit., ‘house of unripe figs’) and about two miles out was Bethany (lit., ‘house of dates or figs’) on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives, a high ridge about two miles long known for its many olive trees.”

The Mount of Olives stands across the Kidron Valley, directly east of Jerusalem. Its summit and western slopes afford a marvelous view of the city.

This was not unfamiliar territory to Jesus and his disciples. Bethany was the last stopping place on the desolate road from Jerusalem to Jericho, the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (John 11:1), and generally served as Jesus’ base when He was in Judea. It was also the home of Simon the Leper (Mark 14:3–9).

[Map: The Passion Week in Jerusalem — showing the movements of Jesus from Sunday through Friday, from Bethany through the city to Golgotha. Source: Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.]

Here’s why this familiarity matters:

★ All of this is important to understand because if we are not careful, we can miss some of God’s greatest miracles because they are done in either the most familiar of places or the more frustrating places of our lives.

Jesus riding in on a donkey was a familiar place. As Paul writes to the Ephesians about history and what Jesus has done for them, the sense of familiarity rises. John 12:16 gives us a window into where the disciples were mentally:

“His disciples did not understand these things at first. However, when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.”

— John 12:16 (CSB)

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Who Did People Think Jesus Was?

There was a lot of activity, competing thoughts, hopes, and desires surrounding Jesus in this moment. The spectrum of political parties was wide — Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots, Sadducees, even tax collectors. When Jesus established His kingdom on earth, He entered into that entire political landscape.

• For some, Jesus represented a political change — a re-establishment of power.
• For some, Jesus represented a forceful king coming to rule in earthly power.
• For others, Jesus represented social change and justice for all who were marginalized and voiceless.
• For some, Jesus represented cultural heritage and purity.
• For some, He aligned with their ideological persuasion.
• For others, He was a hostile threat to their religion and power.
• For others still, Jesus was a new prophet coming to declare a better future.

What is striking is that these same perspectives are alive and well today. What was true 2,000+ years ago is still, unfortunately, true now:

★★ Jesus is often the caricature that best represents that which is the most important or dominant desire in us.

A recent article in Relevant Magazine captured this danger well:

“The problem is that in the context of American Christianity, where religious images are often absent, pop-culture representations of the faith can become the formative symbols and images that a faith community encounters. People begin to actually see Jesus primarily through the lens of materialism and pop-culture, both of which by their very nature are constantly in flux. As a result, evangelical faith becomes faddish, salvation is a style and praise is a phase. When the Church employs superficial symbols to communicate the Gospel, the Gospel can only take hold of people on a superficial level.”

★★ Jesus was and is so much more than all of these ideas and assessments.

Palm Sunday marked the start of a sacred procession that would lead Jesus and his disciples through a series of moments they could not return from. As Paul states in Ephesians 2, it was a moment that would break down a dividing wall that had been built.

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The Events of Passion Week

To understand what Palm Sunday would ignite, here is a look at the full chain of events that followed:

*Some dates are approximate. Chart adapted from the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

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3 Truths Palm Sunday Reveals

If we look a little closer, we will discover some very important truths in this brief but powerful moment in Jesus’s life. Here are three truths Palm Sunday reveals that are especially important for our lives during this sacred and powerful Easter season.

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Truth #1 — The Process Is Provision, Not Interruption (Mark 11:2)

“And told them, ‘Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it.'”

— Mark 11:2 (CSB)

In other words: provision meets us in motion.

The donkey that Jesus would ride in on was found through the process of advancing — not through pausing or backing down from what was in front of him. Jesus had to move forward in order to find his provision. There is a very real temptation in difficult moments of life to retreat, back up, and back down.

★★ The donkey was the provision found by Jesus as he advanced into the darkness of his journey.

Paul writes to the church at Galatia with the same heart:

“Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.”

— Galatians 6:9–10 (CSB)

Provision is what we find when we refuse to give up. Jesus knew where his progress was taking him. The provision was there for his advancement, not for his retreat. Whatever provision you and I need from God, it is found in continuing to move forward into everything God has for us.

Do not retreat. We are not a people called to hang back and cower. We are a people called to trust and move forward —

★★ Even when pain is a part of the promise.

The triumphal entry was a paradox to Mark’s Roman readers because they were only used to a “Roman Triumph” — which starkly contrasts a king riding on a donkey toward his impending death on a cross. Palm Sunday reminds us that we must keep moving forward regardless of what we’re facing.

When the “will of God” is defined only by comfort, ease, provision, amenities, convenience, luxury, pleasure, warmth, satisfaction, abundance, gratification, and coziness — we may have overlooked the true will of God.

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Truth #2 — Conviction Is Often Misread (Mark 11:3–6)

“‘If anyone says to you, “Why are you doing this?” say, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here right away.”‘ So they went and found a colt outside in the street, tied by a door. They untied it, and some of those standing there said to them, ‘What are you doing, untying the colt?’ They answered them just as Jesus had said; so they let them go.”

— Mark 11:3–6 (CSB)

In other words: conviction confuses us before it forms us.

★★ Those around us will often misunderstand the conviction that we have within us. This is a timely truth we face in our current cultural and societal moment.

Having “faith” or conviction in anything right now — especially in God — is often viewed as a sign of weakness, indifference, or even foolishness. Consider how the disciples and the crowd would have been seen and judged as they cheered this humble, donkey-riding king.

Listen to the question posed to the disciples: “Why are you doing this?” That question echoes through time. Why are you staying positive? Why are you giving right now? Why are you pressing forward? Why are you joy-filled? These are valid questions if our hope is in the world and built by the world.

But the Bible tells us that we have a living hope — one that does not disappoint. So we have faith in this moment, joy in this moment, hope in this moment — and while it may be misunderstood and seem crazy, it is grounded in and authored by the one who will never let us down or abandon us.

★★ Faith should never depend on the situation but rather on the Supplier.

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Truth #3 — The Sacred Is Often Hidden in the Ordinary (Mark 11:7–8)

“They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and he sat on it. Many people spread their clothes on the road, and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields.”

— Mark 11:7–8 (CSB)

In other words: the sacred often hides itself in the ordinary things.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary sheds light on what “Hosanna” actually means:

“Hosanna, a transliteration of the Greek word which is itself a transliteration of the Hebrew hôšî’âh nâ’, originally was a prayer addressed to God, meaning ‘O save us now’ (cf. Ps. 118:25a). Later it came to be used as a shout of praise (like ‘Hallelujah!’) and then as an enthusiastic welcome to pilgrims or to a famous Rabbi. ‘Hosanna in the highest’ likely means ‘Save us, O God, who lives in heaven.’ Its use here probably reflects a mixture of all these elements due to the nature of the crowd.”

Author David Benner captures this beautifully in The Gift of Being Yourself:

“God is not alien to the circumstances of our lives but comes to us in them. Our challenge is to unmask the Divine in the natural and name the presence of God in our lives. It is relatively easy to meet God in moments of joy or bliss. In these situations, we correctly count ourselves blessed by God. The challenge is to believe that this is also true — and to know God’s presence — in the midst of doubt, depression, anxiety, conflict, or failure. But the God who is Immanuel is equally in those moments we would never choose as in those we would always gladly choose. Richard Rohr reminds us that ‘we cannot attain the presence of God. We are already totally in the presence of God. What is absent is awareness.'”

— David G. Benner, The Gift of Being Yourself

We do not navigate life in the natural but by supernatural awareness — and this awareness is needed to experience God in the ordinary moments of life.

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Closing Thought

Palm Sunday is not just a moment in history. It is an invitation. It is the procession of peace that tears down every dividing wall — including the ones we build between ourselves, between us and God, and between us and the people we’re called to love. Jesus advanced into darkness so we wouldn’t have to face ours alone.

As we enter Holy Week, may we do the same: keep moving forward, hold our convictions even when they’re misunderstood, and keep our eyes open to the sacred hiding in the ordinary moments all around us.

He is our peace.

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References

• Benner, David G. The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004.
• Freedman, David Noel, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck, eds. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000.
• Grassmick, John D. “Mark.” In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Vol. 2. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985.
• Hoehner, Harold W. “Ephesians.” In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Vol. 2. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985.
• Walvoord, John F., and Roy B. Zuck, eds. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. 2 vols. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985.