The Big Parade

Anybody like parades? My wife loves parades. Every year she makes us go to the Canonsburg 4th of July Parade. There is so much excitement going on around and in a parade.

Jesus was in a parade once. Well, He really was the parade.

Over 2,000 years later we are still talking about. It was just another Sunday in Jerusalem. The Messiah was coming through and people got really excited about it. So what just started as another Sunday turned into a big parade but there was only one “float.” Jesus on a Donkey. What do we call this day today? Palm Sunday. 

Jesus borrowed a donkey, this King didn’t even have His own donkey. As people were looking down the road waiting for the parade to come by, they started to spread their jackets on the road and some even took tree branches and laid them out for the parade.

Why a donkey? Today’s marketing experts would tell Jesus to ride into town on a big white horse. gives us the answer, “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Fulfilling the prophecy written hundreds of years before, Jesus rides into Jerusalem as a conquering King, in the manner of the day.

Why a donkey? Wouldn’t it be more fitting for a great King to ride through on a great white horse? Well, we really shouldn’t be surprised because Zechariah told us this would happen.

Zechariah 9:9 NKJV

9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

Zechariah 9:9

People love parades and they love parties. Once the event is over, “friends” disappear and even come up with excuses to get out of there. This was no exception. When the people found out there would be no after party , they turned from shouting praises to yelling curses quickly.

Mark 11:1–11 NKJV

1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; 2 and He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. 3 And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it,’ and immediately he will send it here.” 4 So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. 5 But some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, loosing the colt?” 6 And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go. 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. 9 Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ 10 Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 11 And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.