"March On! Even after the Parade!"
             It was Palm Sunday and Jesus was coming into Jerusalem. He was riding on a blazing white stallion and kicking up a cloud of dust as he rode along. He was looking for trouble. The people that he passed on his way were in awe of such a beautiful animal but they were even more awestruck by the man who was riding it. As Jesus passed by, you could hear the people say, "Who was that masked man?"
             There were bad guys on the loose and Jesus had a job to do. As he rode into Jerusalem he quickly sized up the situation and formed a plan to capture the ring leader of the trouble makers, his name was Diablo or Satan. There was a short scuffle and Jesus won handily over Diablo. He hog-tied the devil and threw him in jail.
             As a large crowd of people gathered to see what the commotion was all about, Jesus mounted his horse and pulled on the reigns. The stallion stood on its hind legs, nayed loudly, and pawed the air with its front legs. When it stood as tall as it could stand, Jesus leaned forward in the saddle. Holding the reigns with one hand while lifting his white hat in the air with the other, He shouted with a loud voice, "Hi ho Stallion, and away!" As Jesus road off into the sunset, you could hear the William Tell Overture in the background. Du du dunt. Du du dunt. Du du dunt dunt dunt.
             Of course that is not how it happened, but that is how most of us would have done it if we were Jesus.
             As your pastor, I'm tempted to preach on hosanna and hallelujah, people singing and shouting for joy and waving palm branches in the grand parade of Palm Sunday.
             Instead of talking about the death of Jesus, I could simply pause here at the Palm Sunday procession and talk about how important Christian praise is, maybe even sing some praise choruses.
             I could just skip right over Maundy Thursday and Good Friday today, and next Sunday you could come and hear about the tri...