Parades are full of sights and sounds that mean something, that make a statement of why the parade is happening. A Christmas parade has Santa, a Macy’s parade has a huge snoopy, and a Chinese New Year parade as a silky dragon dancing down the street.
When Jesus parades into Jerusalem in Matthew 21, the sights and sounds of his parade were making a loud and clear proclamation: the king is here. Pull up your chair, get your bag for candy and let’s enjoy this parade.
Matthew 21:6-11
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest!”
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
This parade seems a little strange doesn’t it? There is no marching band, just a rowdy group of people singing. There is no candy, just palm branches. The only float entry is Jesus on a donkey. That wouldn’t win any prizes around here. However, our experiences with parades don’t allow us to let the commotion of this parade pass by idly. It must mean something.
If you were in another country at a parade and needed help understanding the images, you’d ask a local. Today, let’s pull up our chairs and let the locals help us understand what’s going on in this strange parade.
The first thing I want to know is, where are we? So I turn to the guy beside me. His eyes have been glued on Jesus since we got here. His thick accent hints that he must be from Galilee, where Jesus is from. So I ask him where we are.
He speaks out of the corner of his mouth to me, keeping his eyes on Jesus, “East side of the Mt. of Olives.” Sure enough, we can see the horizon, the summit of the ridge.
Then he says, “But just over the ridge you can see down into Jerusalem. You can actually see right down into the temple itself.”
That’s cool, but there is only one man in this parade and he’s on a donkey.
This woman named Salome has been standing beside us singing. But she hears my question and says, “We think this man, Jesus, is a king because our prophet Zechariah prophesied about this. He said something to the effect of, ‘Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
All the people around are putting their cloaks on the ground in front of the donkey. This is kind of crazy to me; I mean, these people don’t look like they have a closet full of cloaks to change into. Why would they give up their cloaks for this parade? I ask Salome since she seems well informed.
Indeed, she replies, “In our history, one of our kings named Jehu was anointed by Elisha the prophet to be king. But it was kind of a secret ceremony. When Jehu’s companions realized he was king, they laid their cloaks down on the steps before him. This was a sign of honor for a king and a pledge of allegiance. The cloaks are a political gesture saying they cast their lot with this king.”
That makes sense. So this seems to be some sort of royal parade, but this Jesus definitely doesn’t look like a king. Others are waving palm branches and spreading them out. Trees aren’t too common around here so this seems like it might be wasteful, but I am sure there’s a good reason.
The Galilean is quick to point out that there is. He says, “About 200 years ago, Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the temple by offering a pig to Zeus and outlawed our religion. But a band of rebels rose up, led by Judas Maccabeus, ‘The Hammer.’ They delivered the Jews from Antiochus Epiphanes and restored the worship in the temple. When they came back to Jerusalem to purify the temple, the crowds laid down palm branches in front of them. Now we celebrate Hanukah to remember this. His line went on to be king for over one hundred years.”
So, this is a royal parade, no doubt about it. But what’s a good parade without music? What is this you hear?
Salome happily explains that Hosanna means “save.” She says, “This is from Psalm 118 which is one of the Hallel Psalms we sing during Passover.”
With all this focus on kingship, it sounds a lot more like a battle cry to me. I think I get it now. The king they’ve been waiting for is finally here! No wonder they’re excited. I ask Salome if this is the case and she just looks at me with a smile. This explains why the Galilean is carrying a sword.
But, oh, what a difference five days makes.
Day after day without sign of revolution and subtle whispers of the Jewish leaders change their chant from Hosanna to CRUCIFY. Instead of pleas for salvation, they look at him on the cross, and say SAVE YOURSELF, SON OF GOD. When he didn’t give them what they wanted, they caved.
Following Jesus is easy as long as he meets our expectations.
Today, let’s join the crowds in hailing our king, but let’s not abandon him if he leads where we don’t expect.
Jeremy Hyde
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