"Hosanna!" is the word they shouted as Jesus entered the Holy City. "Hosanna" is a word we often use interchangeably with "Halleluia," but they don't have the same meaning. Shouting "Hosanna" is a plea to be saved. "Halleluia" is the recognition that we've been saved. In many churches, you won't find songs or prayers with the word "Halleluia" during Lent until Easter morning, when we give our thanks and praise for all God has done for us.
But during Lent, it's a time to be reminded of our sins. We remember that we came from dust and to dust, we shall return. We can only understand our need for a savior when we sit in our sin and recognize the darkness in the world; then, we see the need for a light.
Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem was a big deal. They treated him like a king coming into the city.
The Jewish people lining the streets had long waited for a savior. They hoped that Jesus would save them but they had no idea just how Jesus would salvage all of us. "Hosanna!" they shouted "Save us!" Jesus was the way to make us new and whole, to give us life and freedom.

A devotion by Pastor VJ Cruz-Báez: Frequently, Jesus intentionally went out of his way to truly see those who were often invisible to the establishment. He saw people, like the Samaritan woman and the little child he invited us to be like. Christ made a point of welcoming those whose presence in the community was forbidden. The bleeding woman and the leper were among those he allowed to touch his divine essence.
In the Temple that day, Jesus again saw exclusion. A place of worship, holiness, and community-building, had become "a hideout for crooks," because only some were welcomed while others were kept out, penalized for being foreigners, in transit, and poor.
Jesus reminds them, and us, that God calls us to include not exclude. He quotes scripture that says God's house is to be a house of prayer for all. Jesus's intervention disrupted their order. His good news exposed the wickedness of their hearts and the sin hidden in their practices that kept people out.
Baptismal grace welcomes all to the waters. It demands that we examine our values and stop any action that kills the soul. We are not the ones with authority to determine who is ritually clean and worthy; that is defined by the eternal Love, the same One who turned over the tables. The One who sees all of us and declares: "It is very good!"
One has to wonder if the Church is still being a prophetic voice.
Are we watching and claiming the Church as a house of prayer for all people? Because God certainly is!

Devotion by Rev. Dr. Rod Miller: Jesus' cursing the fig tree is a strange event which elicits questions about what Jesus intended to communicate after he entered Jerusalem. Mark likes to write using a sandwich approach to convey the passage of time, changing locations and overall meaning. Jesus saw the fig tree and cursed it for not bearing fruit. Then he went to the Temple and drove out the money changers. The following morning, Peter pointed to the fig tree again and noticed it had withered.
The barren and withered fig tree and the commerce-oriented Temple are meant to inform each other. In each instance, they were not living their purpose. Despite displaying lots of leaves, this fig tree bore no fruit. And despite all the activity going on in the Temple courts, worship and prayer were not the primary focus. Jesus used both instances to teach how important it is to live on purpose.
When the pandemic caused churches to suspend in-person worship and leaders to minister differently, churches found they needed to re-examine the question of purpose. Discerning and living one's calling will help guide churches and individuals through stress and uncertainty.
Living on purpose strengthens faith and gives power to our words because they are linked to God's purpose for us. The lesson of the fig tree raises the question for us: What does it mean to live on purpose today?
Living on purpose comes from following God's inner compass.

A devotion by Rev. Dr. Donna Fowler-Marchant: All four gospels speak of a woman anointing Jesus. Mark simply calls her "a woman" who owned a jar filled with costly perfume while Luke calls her a "sinner," implying sexual immorality.
Was she someone of means who could easily afford to waste such a valuable substance with one extravagant gesture, or was she a woman whose financial situation was precarious but who nevertheless prodigally anointed Jesus?
Either way, when the disciples scolded her, Jesus proclaimed that her act of generosity would be remembered whenever the gospel was proclaimed.
Sarah Ryan and Mary Bosanquet were early Methodist preachers who were very different from one another. Sarah was an uneducated servant who was "married" three times without being divorced; Mary was well-read and belonged to a well-to-do family. From the Methodists, Sarah discovered that Christ's grace was freely offered to her, too, and recognizing God at work in her, John Wesley appointed her housekeeper of the New Room.
Later she mentored the younger Mary Bosanquet, and they formed a household with other Methodist women to nurture and educate the poorest children of their area. Similar to the disciples, Mary's family felt her inheritance wasn't being used wisely, but with Sarah's help, Mary continued to pour out her resources freely on others, reflecting in her journal:
I would be given up, both soul and body, to serve the members of Christ. My firm resolution was to be wholly given up to the church, in any way that he pleased.

Thursday, the last supper. The day we remember each time we receive Holy Communion. It's the day before the darkness fell and the curtain tore. The disciples don't understand what's coming. Then Jesus says one will betray him. Is it I?
We say Hosanna, "Save us" this week as we revisit the last moments of Jesus' life through our Holy Week. Fast forward. Good Friday is coming. We prepare for Easter where we say Hallelugh in a way that, at this moment of sharing a meal with Jesus, the disciples could not comprehend.
But before Good Friday comes to this meal. A meal we share as a family, just as Jesus shared with his friends.