A friend of mine will have an awful day today.

I talked with her last night, passing on some counsel from a mutual friend.  As I said things, they matched perfectly with other things about her situation that she knew but didn’t understand, things I didn’t know about at all.  She finished the conversation encouraged.

That often happens. We are involved in a conversation. We say what comes to mind. It ends up being the perfect thing for the other person. We had no idea.

That’s how the disciples felt on what we know as Palm Sunday. They got a colt because Jesus said to. They started a parade because it seemed the thing to do. They shouted and sang and marched and laughed and cheered.

It wasn’t some big orchestrated Bible thing.

Except it was.

A prophet named Zechariah had written years before about the king showing up on a donkey’s colt. When John wrote out the story, he included Zechariah’s words. Then he said,

At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him. (John 12:16)

Jesus was living out a story that he knew well, that had clues seeded throughout the Old Testament. But the disciples were just living, not understanding that they were part of that grander story.

But here’s the cool thing. They didn’t understand the huge story at the time. But they knew that Jesus said to get a colt, and they did it. They followed him to Jerusalem cheering.

Sometimes we don’t thing we’re very important in God’s big love story. We figure that we’re just living.

Whatever.

But if you’re so moved, grab a palm. There are still parades.