Palm Sunday – Hosanna in the Highest!
The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem April 17, 2022
Today we join with the crowds in shouting Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna means “Save I pray!” This is a joyous celebration, pure joy, the incarnate Son of God is among us! Christ lights our way! “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.” All four of the Gospels contain an account of this glorious entry. “
The crowd is excited, they have all heard about the glorious raising from the dead of Lazarus. This must be the Messiah, who else could raise a man 4 days dead! They are ready to celebrate the joy of having their Messiah among them. He who created all things now rides on a donkey colt through His creation. Christ does not discourage the crowd, but allows that which is absolutely right and proper for all of creation. We would hear the very stones crying out in praise if we could tune in to their wavelength. This is an hour of sanity – when what is always happening in all of creation reaches our hearts and we proclaim, “Hosana in the highest! The Son of Man is glorified! The Kingdom of God is at hand.” Of course, we as Christians know that the Kingdom of God is always at hand. As Christ tells us “For Indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” However, it is wonderful to see the world proclaiming this reality and shouting Hosanna as Christ enters Jerusalem.
We do not just historically observe and think about these events as we celebrate the Holy week services, travelling with Christ and His faithful followers from now until the Pascal celebration of Christ’s resurrection. We fully enter in and experience them, as they exist in eternal time. They are an ever-present part of reality, existing within, yet eternally outside the boundaries of time and history.
So the crowd is filled with Joy and celebrating that the Messiah is among them. How is Jesus reacting to this? In Luke (19:41) we hear; “As He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it.” Earlier Christ had said (Matt. 23:37) “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather up your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing.” He is weeping for all of us. He stretches out His hand to heal and bring us into His Kingdom. Are we willing? Will we turn to Him and take His outstretched hand and invite Him to completely enter into every moment of our lives. Will we follow Him on His terms? Truly be able to say, “Glory to God for all things!”
The crowd does not understand the prophecies of the suffering servant Messiah. They are celebrating Christ with their understanding of what He should be doing for them, of how He should behave. They are celebrating a conquering Messiah who is coming to turf the Romans and give them what they deserved. They want their Messiah on their terms. Even the disciples scatter when one of their inner circle, Judas, betrays Christ, and Jesus allows Himself to be taken by the soldiers. In the end, the Apostle John, the myrrh bearing women and the Theotokos are the only ones recorded to be with Him.
Christ understands fully His purpose in this final journey to Jerusalem and he has been trying to communicate this to His apostles, (John 12:23-26) “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.” “Most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” The pleasures of this world are very transient. They flee almost immediately even if we do achieve them and leave us seeking another high. We pursue endless pleasures and goals in our attempt to fill this great void, this deep longing and hunger, that only communion with God can ever satisfy. True lasting joy is only to be found in the kingdom of Christ.
Very quickly however, Christ’s triumphal entry reverses. Many of these same people now excitedly waving Palm branches and shouting Hosanna, will soon be spitting upon the Lord and shouting “Crucify Him, Crucify Him”.
We should recognize the pattern. We often follow Christ for what we think He can give us. Help us to prosper, help us to get a better job, help us to get healthy. Of course Christ will often bless us in these material ways, and this is a good thing. However, when things don’t work out like we think they should, and we judge that He is not answering our prayers how do we react? Do we think Christ has abandoned us or perhaps we are too sinful for Him to bless us? Christ always wants want is best for us. If we turn to Him He is always there. He does not give us a scorpion when we ask for a fish. But we need to understand that His knowledge of what we need is far different from what it is we think would be good for us. His vision is complete and ours is completely clouded. He knows what is coming tomorrow and next year in our lives. We move from surprize to surprize.
God loves us far more than we even know how to love. He is most concerned that our eternal soul be saved. Our prosperity and worldly contentment, and many other things we think would be helpful, can often get in the way of this. Material excess is often far less helpful in driving us to Christ than suffering and troubles. His main concern is that our hearts be softened and truly converted, and that we learn to love Him and all of mankind in true humility. This does not usually happen by ever increasing material success, even if we think we are the exception. The truth is that Christ is bringing all things together, to best allow us to cooperate with His plan of salvation and transformation. He asks us to trust Him in the middle of our often very painful and bewildering circumstances; to pick up our cross and follow Him. Even in the middle of pandemics, questionable government actions, tragedies, and all that occurs in our lives, Christ is with us! This is often very difficult to remember, but ultimately all we have to give to God is our free will and our trust. We need to pray, as Christ prays to His Father just before going to His death on the Cross “Nevertheless, not my will but Yours be done.”
Our Epistle reading today tells us; “…whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.” This is a great test for what we should try to fill our minds with. We should attempt to fast by controlling our intake with not only our mouths, but also all of the other senses, especially the eyes and ears. May God be quick to help and give us His grace in this great struggle.
Our Epistle today also has a great bit of advice on true joy: “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.” Let us join with those today in crying out to Christ; “Hosanna in the highest, Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord!” Tonight we begin Holy Week. Let us do what we can to fully enter into this very precious week, take in as many services as we can manage, and finish with a good week of fasting and inner reflection. May we once again be renewed and flooded with the faithful arrival of the paschal joy of the resurrection! With the Feast!