Jesus on parade

Everyone loves a parade. You have marching bands and floats. You have clowns and horses and people in fancy dress. You have antique cars, trucks, and farm equipment. You have groups who demonstrate different styles of dancing and athletic ability. You have color guards and fire engines. And best of all, parades are free entertainment.

Up until recently, parades were more than just an hour’s worth of fun—they were a major event. Before cars, travel was slow; the average person seldom took trips of more than a few miles from home. And without television or radio, the ability to witness large and exciting events did not come along very often. A parade was guaranteed to draw a huge crowd.

Governments have always used parades to their advantage. Politicians use parades to connect with the people in a personal way, smiling and waving as they pass by; political hopefuls shake hands and pass out campaign literature. Governments also like to show off their military, filling parades with tanks, missile launchers, and ground forces marching in precision. In places like America, it is a chance to recognize our soldiers and be reassured that we are well protected; in other places, the show of might is intended to keep citizens in line by intimidating them. Because they are well attended, parades are the perfect venue for those in charge to send a message to the people.

During Holy Week, Jesus participated in two parades. Like other parades, these were both well attended. Like other parades, these events were used to send important messages to the people. The first parade happened on Palm Sunday; Jesus entered Jerusalem to begin teaching in the Temple. The second parade happened on Good Friday; Jesus left Jerusalem to end His life by dying on the cross.

The first parade on Palm Sunday is one we would feel comfortable in attending. Jesus had spent the last three years traveling around the country—teaching about God, forgiving sins, performing miracles. He had become a well-known and respected individual with a considerable following. Now He was approaching Jerusalem to celebrate the most important religious holiday of the year. The capital city was swarming with people—people who were sick and tired of the Roman soldiers occupying their country. They wanted someone to organize a revolt and throw the Romans out—and they thought that Jesus might be just the man for the job.

And so a parade was quickly organized. Jesus’ arrival was welcomed with cheers and singing. Many in the crowd hailed Him as a king, hoping He would bring about political freedom. The parade-goers had a message for Jesus—"We support you." By attending the parade, they also intended to send the Romans a message—"Here is our true king."

The people were right in praising Jesus as king. But they misunderstood the nature of His kingdom. Jesus had not come to rule from the front of an army or from behind a desk; Jesus came to take charge of the human heart. When Pilate questioned Jesus on the nature of His rulership, the Lord replied: My kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). Jesus told the Pharisees, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, `Here it is,' or `There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20-21).

The people along Jesus’ parade route were praising Him for the wrong reasons. He had come to free us, not from political oppression, but from the oppression of sin. Only one person in the world was capable of such a feat—only the Son of God could achieve this victory. This is why He was born into our world. This is why He rode into Jerusalem calmly, knowing that death awaited Him. When some said that the cheering people were acting inappropriately, Jesus replied: if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out (Luke 19:40). The Son of God had come to do something that would change the world forever; this event was definitely cause for celebration.

Five days later, another parade took place in Jerusalem—but this one we would feel very uncomfortable in attending. This was not a celebration of joy—this was a political statement sponsored by the government to provoke fear. Jesus was stripped of His clothes and His dignity. He was sticky with blood from a terrible whipping. He was followed by a cross, the most brutal means of execution ever devised by man, a method of death reserved for only the worst of criminals. The Romans paraded Jesus through the city to send a message to the people—do what this man did, and you can expect the same.

Jesus was taken to the Place of the Skull, an area used for public executions. To make sure that travelers coming to the city understood why Jesus was being put to death, the notice of His crimes was written in three different languages. The charge was simple: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS (Luke 23:38). Most who read this sign would conclude that the execution was politically motivated; apparently Jesus was on the losing end of a struggle for power with Rome.

But once again, most people misunderstood what was going on. The parade that left a trail of blood through the city did take place to send a message, but it was not a message of fear. The parade route to the cross, the Via Dolorosa, was all about God’s solution to the problem of sin. The Way of Grief sends a message, not of fear, but of hope.

Jesus was insulted and slapped around. His enemies spit in His face and told lies about Him. He was stripped of His clothes and savagely whipped. He was laid out on a rough wooden cross and had metal spikes pounded through His hands and feet. Then He was lifted up into the sun to die slowly from dehydration, blood loss, exposure, or just sheer exhaustion, all the while being in constant agony as His body hung from the nails piercing His hands and feet.

Adding to His torment, people who never had time for Jesus before now made a point of taunting Him. Jesus was ridiculed by prominent Jewish citizens, common Roman soldiers, even a criminal sentenced to die on a cross alongside of Him. Of His disciples, only John had the courage to stand near the cross, comforting Jesus’ mother in her time of grief. But worst of all were those terrible hours when the sun was darkened and God turned His back on the Son He loves. Jesus suffered for our sins alone, suffered the hell that awaits every sinner who dies while separated from the love of God. Jesus suffered in body and soul, suffered so much that God’s own Son died there on the cross.

And yet through this awful tragedy, we are given the blessing of hope. Jesus suffered and died, not for His sins, but for ours. Isaiah says, he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). By rights, the cross of Jesus was our cross; His suffering was our suffering; His death was our death. Our sins had demanded punishment from above, but instead of us it was Jesus who experienced the wrath of God.

The result of this substitution is hope—hope for the future. Because Jesus died in our place, the threat of eternal punishment in hell has been replaced with the offer of everlasting joy in paradise. The cross is a terrible tragedy, but a necessary one. Jesus bled on the cross, but His blood is the only substance that can remove the stain of sin from our lives. Knowing this, we who trust in Jesus can view the future with hope—the same hope as that of the man dying next to Jesus, who was given this wonderful promise: I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). That dying criminal believed that Jesus was His king and had the power to save him; when we welcome Jesus’ rule in our hearts, we share in that confident hope.

During Holy Week, Jesus was at the center of two parades. One celebrated His life, the other served notice of His death. Through these parades, the people got the meet their Savior; through these parades, they were invited to come and find out more about Him. One parade ended at the Temple, where Jesus taught about the kingdom of God; the other parade ended at the cross, where the Son of God established His rule by defeating sin, death and hell once and for all.

Everyone loves a parade. But are you content to just be a face in the crowd, watching as the king goes by? Or will you join the parade, and follow where He leads?