Man's righteousness cast down before the Christ

Mark 11:7-8
7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it.
8 And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

This passage talks about the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. But as we already know, the Messiah was not entering Jerusalem to wipe out the Romans and rule over the Israelites as their earthly King. On the contrary, He would be humiliated and crucifed not many days later. He would become the final sin offering for man.

But why did the people spread their clothes and leafy branches on the road?

The most obvious answer is that they were laying down a "red carpet" for a "VIP". But there is a deeper truth here.

The clothes of these people represent man's own righteousness, as opposed to Jesus' robe of righteousness or God's own righteousness. The leafy branches also speak of man's self-righteousness. Remember how Adam tried to cover his nakedness with fig leaves? That was not acceptable and God had to clothe him with the skin of an animal. (Genesis 3:21) This means that an animal had to be killed. In other words, blood had to be shed for without the shedding of blood, there can be no remission of sins. (Hebrews 9:22)

So a righteousness that far superseded man's righteousness was in their midst. And man's righteousness had to be cast down on the ground, as it was far beneath God's righteousness.

The beauty of all this is that when man casts down his own righteousness before the Christ, God would clothe him with Jesus' robe of righteousness. The prophet Isaiah said:

Isaiah 61:10
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness..." (Isaiah 61:10)

And this is all possible because of the sacrifice of Christ!