“The Lord has Need of It”

“If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’”And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. –Mark 11:3-6

Verse 3 is one of the most debated verses in the Mark’s Gospel. Some commentators believe the Greek word for “lord”, kurios, is not being used in reference to Jesus, but rather in reference to the owner of the colt. They base this on their belief that kurios was never used in reference to Jesus in the NT. They believe its use started later in the Church. Obviously this is a great problem because if it is true Jesus was telling his disciples to take the colt dishonestly. This alone should be enough to tell us “Lord” is a reference to Jesus and that those who owned the colt let him borrow it because they knew who he was. But, in addition to this, their assertion that Jesus was not called “Lord” until several centuries after his ministry is false. In Mt. 7, Jesus says “not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord…”, the word ‘maranatha’ used in 1 Cor. 16 means “Lord come, “ and in Galatians Paul calls James, “the brother of the Lord”. The owners of the colt lent it to the disciples because they knew Jesus is the “Lord.”

Notice what Jesus is doing in the verse. He tells his disciples to tell the owners he has a “need.” Jesus is God; therefore we know he had no needs on earth. Indeed, if he wanted to he could have taken the colt without asking, for all things on earth belonged to him. This makes his request all the more remarkable. In telling the disciples to say he is in need, he is not declaring something is lacking in himself or that that what he does is dependent on human actions, rather he is allowing men to partake of his glory by giving them an opportunity to participate in his work. God’s work is not dependent on us. Jesus was going to ride into Jerusalem on a colt, and no lack of human generosity could have stopped him.

In giving us all that he does, God is giving us opportunities to participate in his glorious work. When Jesus instructs the disciples to tell the owners he will return the colt to them, he is setting an example for us as to how we should treat our own possessions. Just as in the temporal sense the colt did not belong to Jesus, so in the spiritual sense none of our possessions belong to us. They are his; we are merely stewards for a time. As such we have an obligation to take care of our possessions, our families, our time, our health, and our talents, and make sure they are used for the furtherance of the kingdom of God. Just as the owners of the colt were honored by Jesus request, we too will be honored when we hear the words “the Lord has need of it.”