The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel!” John 12:12-13.
Everyone loves a parade. Rose Parade, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, Super Bowl winners parade, the annual civic parade, and the local Christmas parade. People will turn out for a parade because they want to hear the bands, or see their children riding on one of the floats, or see a celebrity of some sort. John says that people turned out to see Jesus, and maybe Lazarus who they had heard had been raised from the dead.
I doubt that Jesus looked like a political candidate smiling and waving to the crowds. The scene probably looked more like that of an acquitted celebrity walking out of the courthouse to crowds of the curious and news reporters. They all liked the idea of a Messiah who could raise the dead, but whose false devotion would wear off in the mobs of people crying for his death.
No one had a clue about what this celebrated man was about to do. There had been other pretender Messiah’s before. Theudas is mentioned in Acts 5. He was a false Messiah who gained about 400 disciples, but was killed by the Romans. Like Jesus would be.
BUT, Jesus walked out of his tomb on the third day of his entombment. No one expected that, and there was no Triumphal Exit held for him. Still, Jesus demonstrated that victory parades mean nothing. But the defeat is another thing. Something the crowds with their palm branches and Hosannas never imagined.
Today is Palm Sunday in the Christian calendar. It should sound more like an army marching to battle than the annual Kiwanis parade.
Prayer: Jesus of the Donkey, your humble float should make us take notice about how assertively you marched into battle with sin and death. Help us to avoid at all costs romanticizing your life and may we see with crystal clarity the truth of your marching into our lives and our failures so that we can be delivered from the death of this life. In your name. Amen.