Hosanna

This Sunday is Palm Sunday, a day which we remember Jesus’ entrance into the city of Jerusalem at the beginning of Passover. For Christians, it marks the beginning of the most important week in the church, Holy Week.

Scripture tells us that on that Palm Sunday, as Jesus entered the city on the back of a colt the people ran in front of him and laid their garments on the road to cushion his ride. Others cut palm branches and waved them in the air, a sign that a hero had arrived. Together they sang, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Hosanna means ‘Please save us.’

This offended the religious elite who urged Jesus to rebuke the crowds and make them stop. To their complaints, Jesus replied, ‘If they kept quiet, the stones would cry out.’

It seems all of creation was longing for salvation. As Christians we are waiting for God to set things right, the way He created them to be. Even creation realizes the brokenness of our world. So even the stones are crying out, ‘Lord, Save us.’

It is into the messiness of our world, that Jesus came. He didn’t come to be a military commander as many wanted. He didn’t come to be a political leader as others hoped. Instead, he came to be our Savior. He came to do what we could not do, bridge the gap between God and human beings.

He came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, hearing the shouts of the adoring crowd, but knowing that very soon those shouts of adoration would turn to shouts of anger by those who wanted no part of the kind of salvation He offered.

Soon the rocks would be silent as Jesus hung from the cross. The cave which his body was laid didn’t make a sound. It seems as if Jesus had failed. Creation would have to wait a while longer for the salvation it craved.

But then came Easter morning…

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