Indeed, Jesus is our Father's answer to our Hosanna.
I bet you may not hear, "Hosanna!" very often in regular life, but it certainly is a familiar word for those who have gathered for worship over the years. And it's a word that we're especially used to hearing on Palm Sunday. The Hebrews, who trusted and awaited for Christ to return, were used to shouting, "Hosanna!"
Can Jesus do for us as his name says he will do for us? Can he? Will he? Save us now?
Indeed, Jesus is our Father's answer to our Hosanna.
Can you see yourself into the religious pilgrim crowd in Jerusalem at this Passover? You’ve journeyed far to be here and are looking forward to the annual retelling of the story of the Exodus.
And, into your city, comes the humble Savior long promised, riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Who could have seen this coming?
You hear the first shouts of, "Hosanna!" In the LORD's city, in the shadows of the temple, where the LORD had promised his presence. The shouts continue: "Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the LORD! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!"
"Can it be?" you wonder. Would he? Could he? For me? It this truly the LORD coming in deliverance?
We are not first-century Hebrews. And yet we too have been waiting, waiting on the Lord through the pain and loneliness, in our own lives.
And this week:
Have you had the opportunity to cry out from the depths?
Have you felt overwhelmed and anxious?
Has being human in a fallen world – a human who suffers and equally causes suffering – felt at times to be too much?
Go ahead and listen to the passion history. Mark it down. Just like those welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem with their cries of Hosanna and their waving of Palm Branches, the events which unfold this coming week are not what we would expect to be said and to be done for us and yet still he goes. And you gather this week to hear it all anew.
Lift your voices again. Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes! You get to trust that the one on the donkey is the LORD Himself in the flesh, in answer to your prayers.
Hosanna. Lord, save us! We have found the One at the center of the procession, the One at the center of human history, the One who came to give himself up for the sinners to save them. Alas, he has found us.
This is our week. Jesus has come. He is the answer to our Hosanna. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
