Let's Have a Parade!

Palm trees. internet image

 It wasn't a parade as we might think of it, but stories written by witnesses make it clear the people were excited to see the guest of honor.

 The parade marshal, as we might describe him today, sent friends to find suitable transportation. 

 The trip was bittersweet. 

 People were cheering and shouting, declaring the man riding on a donkey as the heir of the nation's most illustrious king.

The parade foreshadowed a more difficult trip where the guest was despised and rejected, forced to carry the tool to be used to end his life. Ultimately, that trip was victorious because it was because His death saves us.

Matthew 21: 1 - 11 https://biblia.com/bible/esv/matthew/21

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them at once.'" This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

"Say to the daughter of Zion, 

Behold, your king is coming to you,

humble, and mounted on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a best of burden.'" 

 

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?" And the crowds said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."

 

The cheers and adulation didn't last. After a final dinner together, Jesus' friends left him, one turned him in for a reward, the authorities put him on trial. It's the greatest story ever, a redemptive one.