He Tore Them Apart

from Derek Thomas:
Chapter 11 is a new section in Mark’s gospel. It’s Holy Week. It’s Passion Week. This is Sunday, Palm Sunday. Jesus and His disciples have come at last to Jerusalem, and there’s a note here even on a cursory level that everything that happens has intentionality about it. There’s nothing that happens here that is meant to be interpreted as a chance occurrence, a whim. Jesus is in full control of what is transpiring in this week that lies before Him. He’s taking the initiative from the very start, sending disciples ahead to find this colt and bring it back for whatever purpose, as we shall see in a moment, but sending the signal that He’s in control of this. He’s thought about it, planned it...of course, from all eternity. John Murray says,
“He took His soul in one hand and His body in the other and tore them apart.”