The Personalities In The Parade

“The Personalities of the Parade”

Mark 11:1-10 • Larry L. Thompson (2002)

“. . . Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”

“As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, [2] saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. [3] If anyone asks you, ’Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ’The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’ “[4] They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, [5] some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" [6] They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. [7] When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. [8] Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. [9] Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" [10] "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! “Hosanna in the highest!”

INTRODUCTION

In the Fort Lauderdale Christmas Pageant one of the most amazing scenes is the re-enactment of the Triumphant Entry on the First Palm Sunday when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and there were thousands upon thousands of followers who were joyfully marching before Him and they were waving their Palm branches and they were all shouting…. (Cue for choir to yell HOSANNA!) This is what they had to proclaim as all of Jerusalem made ready for this glorious parade. I call it, the parade to Calvary and this man, this Messiah was the One they had all come to see. Jesus, “the One who comes in the name of the Lord” (Mark 11:9).

The biggest parade I have ever witnessed was Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Having watched it on television for years it was a dream for our family to actually experience this annual tradition and we did a few years ago. We had no idea it would be so crowded! We had anticipated so much the parade that we failed to consider the crowds. We were five or six rows back and there was no way any of us could see the parade. I had planned for months for this trip and had such great anticipation but I forgot to take care of one small detail. I went and took a street barrier and put it at the back of the crowd against a building and our girls stood on the barrier and saw the parade in its entirety. Now when I consider how crowded it was in NYC for the parade I want to explain to you how big the crowds were for this triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem. I want you to pay close attention today to the importance of the small details and the significance of this truth. WHAT JESUS DID IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS WHAT HE SAID!

Biblical Background:

This day in the life of Christ occurred during the days of Passover. It was one of the compulsory feasts for the Jewish people. It was the obligation for every male who lived within a 15-mile radius of Jerusalem to be in attendance. Passover commemorated the deliverance of God’s people from Egypt. So it was a time of great thanksgiving offered by the people of God. It was the ambition of every Jew who lived away from Jerusalem to attend at least one Passover in their lifetime. This meant that each year at Passover Jews flocked to Jerusalem from every corner of the world. The crowds that came to the city were enormous.

To understand historically how large this crowd would have been we examine what Flavious Josephus, famous Jewish historian writes about one particular Passover celebration:

“Cestius, the Roman governor of Palestine, attempted to impress Emperor Nero that the Passover was an important feast for the Jews, and to do this he ordered the high priest to count the actual number of lambs that were sacrifice at Passover in the year A.D. 65. Cestius quoted the high priest as giving him a figure of 256,500 lambs that were offered for sacrifice.”

The Jewish law stipulated that a minimum of ten people were required for one sacrificial lamb. With that ratio we would be looking at a crowd of at least three million pilgrims. It is obvious that this would have been an extremely crowded time and as a result EVERYTHING THAT JESUS DID IN JERUSALEM NOW HAS THIS ENORMOUS CROWD AS ITS BACKDROP. The entire city was talking about the PARADE TO CALVARY! Let’s examine the…