Hosanna: Yes He Did

As I sit at my computer and look out my window the landscape looks more like a pre-Christmas setting than just four days before Easter.  Snow is falling and beginning to pile up on the ground.  Robins have the appearance of total dismay.  And what flowers had begun to peek through the cold soil wonder exactly what season of the year it truly is.  Yet, within days we will celebrate that most amazing demonstration of God's love the world has ever seen: the crucifixion and then resurrection of Jesus Christ. 


Today also marks the second day of Passover, a time when our Jewish friends celebrate as families one of the most amazing demonstrations of God's power the world has ever seen: the bringing forth of the children of Israel out of their centuries long bondage in Egypt. 


It was one of those remarkable first days of the week.  Streets and alleyways of Jerusalem were beginning to swell with those pilgrims arriving for the Passover celebration.  There was an aura of excitement that seemed more prevalent than in the past.  It certainly made the Jewish leaders and Roman authorities more edgy.  Talk among the pilgrims centered upon some Messianic figure who would soon come to bring freedom even as Moses had nearly a millennium and a half ago.  It seemed that all eyes were focused upon Jesus.  So, it was with pomp and celebration that, as He made His way down the slopes of the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley and into the city itself, there were cries of "Hosanna, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord."  "Hosanna" means "save us."  And that is exactly what they expected Jesus, the great miracle worker from Galilee, to do.  After all, if He could heal lepers and lame men and open the eyes of the blind, could He not rally an army for liberation?  After all, if He could bring the dead back to life, could He not bring back a nation that was in the spirals of death in slavery to their Roman oppressors?  I believe that journey also buoyed the thoughts that had been incubating within the hearts of the disciples.  Perhaps all this talk of death at the hands of Jewish leaders was simply that, talk.  Perhaps Jesus would act with power and authority to bring about salvation for the Jewish people.  They certainly hoped it would be that way.


Little did the people and the disciples understand that those cries of "Hosanna!" would be answered in a matter of a few days.  Yes, Jesus came to bring salvation, not from Rome, but from an even greater and more insidious evil - sin itself.  It would have been an easier task, I believe, to assemble an army to fight the Romans, but, when victory came, what then?  Would it not be right back to a different form of slavery?  Might it not even be a more intense form of religious slavery under a new set of rules and regulations?  No, the people did not need freedom from Rome's whips.  They needed freedom from Satan's tyranny. 


As one reads the various Gospel accounts of the events that transpired between that Palm Sunday and that final meal Jesus had with His disciples, one is amazed at the bold, confrontative spirit of Jesus.  He turned over the tables of the money changers in the Temple.  He gave a "tongue-lashing" to the Pharisees, reminding them of their own spiritual hypocrisy.  He refused to answer a question as to the origins of His authority unless His critics answered His question of the authority of John's baptism.  The Jesus we see during Passion Week is not the meek and mild Jesus often portrayed.  There is an anger that is burning within Him, an anger toward the sins that are holding the people captive.  And, I believe, these accounts of Jesus only propel those feelings of the disciples and the people that something dramatic is about to happen. 


The first group to experience a deflation are the disciples.  As they enter that room that evening for a Passover dinner with Jesus, they are arguing among themselves as to who would share in what position of power in the coming Kingdom.  Then Jesus "pops the balloon" by announcing that, before the evening is over, one of them will betray Him to the authorities, Peter would deny Him, not just once but three times, and the rest of the disciples would scatter to the winds.  Talk about ruining a wonderful party. 


And that crowd that had cried out "Hosanna! Save us!" on Sunday became convinced that Jesus would not bring their deliverance from Rome.  So their cries became those of disappointment - "crucify Him!"  Little did they know, or anyone else for that matter, that it was in that way that salvation would come.  And so Jesus was crucified enduring a punishment that should have been yours and mine.  He was that Passover Lamb slain for sins - not His own, but yours and mine.  I am reminded of those powerful words from the pen of Isaiah, "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). 


And so the curtain dropped that Friday evening upon a dead Jesus, hastily buried in a borrowed tomb, and a handful of His followers who locked themselves in that room where they had first tasted of disappointment.  They feared a similar fate as that of their leader.  One can only imagine the tears of disappointment and perhaps even of anger that were shed there.  "Why didn't we do something?  How could we not have seen this happening?" 


The curtain then rises early on another first-day of the week.  Several women had left early to complete the task of giving Jesus a proper burial.  Their thoughts centered around who would move the massive stone that had been rolled in front of the tomb's entrance.  It was with heavy hearts they meandered through the streets to the site where Jesus was buried.  To their utter amazement, the stone was already rolled away.  And two angelic beings announced to them that Jesus was not there, but had risen from the dead.  Now there was a mixture of emotions.  Mark tells us they were filled with fear.  Matthew says they were afraid yet filled with joy.  They hurried back to the disciples and reported to them the good news.  The reaction of the disciples was similar to those of the women.  Only two - Peter and John - ran to the tomb to see for themselves whether the story was indeed true.  Yet, even though Jesus would appear to them later that evening, it took several days before the truths of His resurrection would impact their lives. 


"Hosanna! Save us!" was the people's cry.  The response of Jesus was "Father, not My will but Yours be done."  And salvation was accomplished.  Jesus was the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"  Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."  As the disciples, weeks later would publicly proclaim, "there is salvation found no where else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved."  It is Jesus and only Jesus!


Bill and Gloria Gaither captured the power of that first Easter morning with these words: "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; Because He lives, all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living just because He lives."


To my Jewish friends I wish you a Chag Kasher VeSameach.  And to my brothers and sisters in Christ, I proclaim with you, "He is risen!  He is risen indeed!"