Mission vs Agenda!

The disciples brought a donkey and a colt, laid their clothes on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their own cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the tress and spread them on the road. The crowd went ahead of him, and those that followed shouted “Hosannah to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosannah in the highest.” Matthew 21:7-9

There are many things I think about when I think about a parade. The parades in this day and time usually are led by a band. Loud music is played while onlookers cheer and clap. There are probably majorettes and flag twirlers who stop to do a small routine along the way, and the crowd goes wild!

Dignitaries and other important people ride by in convertibles or on floats and throw out candy to the crowd. The children in the crowd race to catch a glimpse of them and try to grab as much candy as possible. There is constant cheering and excitement!

The crowds for our parades these days are made up of many different people. There are parents, children, friends, school mates, grandparents, and many different onlookers who come for many different reasons.

Jesus’s entrance into Jerusalem makes me try to guess what it was like for Him. He rode on the back of a donkey, covered with cloaks of the disciples, and witnessed the crowd waving their branches and laying their own clothes down for the donkey to walk upon.

Although there were no bands, the Bible says there were “Hallelujahs”, “Hail the King,” and “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” being shouted from the crowd. The whole town threw a party complete with a parade when Jesus came to Jerusalem on that day.

The people were much like the little boy who missed Palm Sunday at church because he was sick and had to stay home with his mother. When his Dad returned from church, he was carrying a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, “Dad what are you doing with that palm branch?” “You see,” said the dad, “when Jesus came into town, everyone waved palm branches to honor Him, so we got palm branches today.” “Oh man, ” the little boy said, “the one day I miss church, Jesus comes to town.”

In the above scripture, the people praised Jesus, but many of them praised Him for one of two basic reasons. First, they praised Him because of His miracles. He had healed the sick and raised the dead. These praised Him because He was serving them.

The second group of people praised Him because they saw in Jesus a way to be politically delivered from the Romans – to be set free as Israel had been set free from Egypt. They were all about the attitude, “What can you do for me, Jesus?”

The crowd on that day was made up of different people who had different agendas. Many gathered, threw down their coats, their palm branches, and shouted praises because it was the popular thing to do. It was trendy. Some were there with sincere motives, but on that Friday, there motives disappeared as they joined the mob shouting “Crucify Him.”

Jesus was the only one in that crowd on a mission, and that mission was to suffer and die on the cross for the sins of those he saw around him that day. The cloaks spread on the ground were only for the donkey – Jesus’ feet never touched any of them. I can imagine His agony as he thought how many times He had tried to get through to these people by sending prophets, working miracles, and preaching. He knew they were cheering because they needed him to tend to their agendas.

Jesus closed his day by visiting the temple there in Jerusalem. The scriptures say “He looked around and then left with his disciples to Bethany to the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus” to spend one of his last nights with close friends. He had fulfilled the scripture.

As we celebrate Palm Sunday this week, we should all be careful not to come to worship with any kind of personal agenda, but rather come with the mission of worshipping our Lord and leave with the mission of telling others about the sacrifice that He has made for us.