Communities joined together and carried bikurim to Yerushalayim with immense joy. The Mishnah (Bikurim ch.2) describes it:
"An ox walked in front of them. Its horns were covered in gold, and it wore an olive-leaf wreathe. A flute played before them. Officers came from Yerushalayim to greet them..."
The Alshich writes, "Why all this joy and excitement over a few fruits that cost less than a half-dinar? An even greater wonder is the Midrash that states, 'Hashem created the world for bikurim.'" He explains that the specialness of bikurim is that it teaches us that everything we have is from Hashem.
We add that the immense joy of bikurim teaches us how special every mitzvah is. Even when a mitzvah seems unimportant to us, its genuine value is infinite.
The mitzvah of bikurim is relatively easy. It isn't expensive. The first phase of this mitzvah can even be performed in one's thoughts. If one thinks, "This fruit should be bikurim," it becomes bikurim. The immense honor they received teaches us that there is no such thing as a simple mitzvah. Every mitzvah is extremely precious.
The Yismach Yisrael writes, "The honored kohanim and gizbarim (gabaim) of the beis haMikdash came out to greet them to show them that even a simple mitzvah from the simplest person — and even just a good thought — is accepted by Hakadosh Baruch Hu with desire and compassion. All malachim put many crowns on his head. Each person, no matter who he is, can get chizuk from this. Even if he only performed one mitzvah during his entire life or had one good thought, it is also enough. He should be embarrassed about all the times he didn't grasp an opportunity to perform a mitzvah. Now that he sees the vast value of the mitzvos, he should be embarrassed that he lost out in the past on opportunities to perform mitzvos."
