Out Our Way: Hosanna means help!

When (the disciples and Jesus) were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethpage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back immediately.’

They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street.  As they were untying it some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying this colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it.

Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting.

“Hosanna!

Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!

Hosanna in the highest Heaven!” 

—Mark 11: 1- 11

Out our way, it helps to understand the lingo, especially when you are needing some help. Once when Goliath got a bit excited and took off at a faster run than I was prepared to sit, a friend of mine kept yelling, “Use the emergency brake! Circle! Circle! Circle!”  

I had no idea what he was talking about and just kept hauling back on the reins until I lost my seat and fell off onto some incredibly hard dirt. It may have only been soil, but it felt like concrete!

Anyway, my buddy came riding up to make sure nothing was broken, and then explained to me you don’t stop a run away horse by pulling back on the reins, but by pulling his head to the side and getting him going in a circle. That’s what he called “the emergency brake.” It’s a good thing to know, and since that time I have used “the emergency brake” a number of times when old “Doc” has been spooked and lost his cool. Fortunately, I am a better rider now and Goliath is better trained, so we haven’t had to use it for some time, but it’s nice to have that tool in your “war bag.”

Misunderstandings and ignorance can have tragic consequences, although sometimes, as Paul wrote:  “ All things work together for good  for those who love God, and are called according to His purposes” (Romans 8:28).           

In other words, even terrible things can eventually be turned to good purpose in God’s own time. Take for example what we are remembering during Holy Week as it begins on Sunday.

It started out so well — or so it seemed — for Jesus came to Jerusalem to celebrate the great holy feast of Passover with his disciples and to finally announce loud and clear who he was.    There was a deliberate message in his decision to enter the city riding on a donkey that day.  It was one of the signs of the coming Messiah as prophesied in Zechariah 9:9, which speaks of the Holy One, the Christ, entering the city in such fashion.  Tradition had it that the Messiah would appear at the Passover and indeed is part of the celebration to this day — to open the door for the Christ at the end of the meal. It was very clear to everyone what Jesus was doing and saying when he got on the donkey and rode into the city.

The crowds certainly understood it, for they began crying out the words of Psalm 118:25-26:  “Hosanna! (Save us!) Blessed is the One who comes in the name of God!”  

This Psalm had long been associated with the coming of the great King who would save His people and establish the Kingdom of God.   Laying out their cloaks and the palms were all part of the ceremony of welcoming a king! Yet how quickly they changed their minds.   

Within a week, the voices that cried out “Hosanna” would go silent or change to shouts of “Crucify him!”  

Hosanna means “help!” And yet the help God offered was not what the people wanted.  They didn’t want to be saved from sin and transformed into God’s people, they simply wanted to trade places with the Romans and become the great power that ruled and abused others for once. That sort of “help” God did not provide. And when they realized the Kingdom of God meant transforming their enemies into their brothers and sisters instead of destroying them — that it was a call to forgiveness and not to vengeance — they rejected the Christ and turned against him.

Yet in nailing him to the cross on the following Friday, their true salvation and that of the world was won. The salvation of us all is now offered to any who will receive it.  That is a pretty good “tool” to know God has put in your “war bag” this Palm Sunday, and every other day of the year as well.

(John Bruington is the pastor at First Presbyterian Church. Sermons, children’s messages, cartoons and “Out Our Way” articles can be found on the website for First Presbyterian at http://www.havrepres.org.)