Easter: Daily Meditations On Holy WeekSample

Palm Sunday: Hosanna  

INTRODUCTION

Text: Today we pause to engage with Palm Sunday, the day Jesus entered Jerusalem on his way to the cross.

Reading: Read and consider this verse: “A great crowd who had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!’” John 12:12-13

Text: Take a few moments to let your imagination fill your mind with images of what you already know and can picture about this day. 

Prayer: Pray this prayer and consider its words: “Merciful God, as we enter Passion Week turn our hearts to Jerusalem, to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ so that, united with Christ and all the faithful, we may one day enter in triumph the city not made by human hands, the new Jerusalem, eternal in the heavens, where, with you and the Holy Spirit, Christ lives in glory forever. Amen.”[1]

BACKGROUND

Text: The people of God had long been in waiting for a savior. God had promised that his anointed one – known as the Messiah in Hebrew and the Christ in Greek – would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. 

Verse: Read this prophecy. Notice the mention of a king, a donkey and the people’s response: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Zechariah 9:9

Text: By riding into town on a donkey, Jesus was intentionally proclaiming that he was the king, the Messiah, the Christ, God had promised. Take a moment to imagine what it would have been like to witness this prophecy being fulfilled as you yourself placed branches and garments along the path Jesus traveled. 

Verse: Read this verse aloud if you can. Speak these praises to Jesus: “... Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11:9–10 ESV) 

RESPONSE 

Text: Hosanna was a special word used during specific corporate gatherings of the Jewish people. One of the two main times the “Hosanna” was traditionally spoken was during the feast of Booths. During the Feast of Booths, the people of Israel would “dwell in booths” so that they would remember that God made the people of Israel dwell in booths when he brought them out of the land of Egypt (Leviticus 23:43). These booths would be constructed, among other things, out of palm branches (Leviticus 23:40; Nehemiah 8:15). This feast was a reminder of God’s salvation.

Verse: The people would traditionally read Psalm 113-118.[2] Read one of the final verses the people would have read during the Feast of Tabernacles: “Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!” (Psalm 118:25-27 ESV)

Text: “Hosanna” is an emphatic plea for help. It can be translated as “Save us, Lord, we beg!” Imagine the entire congregation of Israel shouting, “Hosanna!” in response to this reading. In each of the Gospel accounts of Palm Sunday, the words from Psalm 118 are found on the lips of those shouting Hosanna: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” 

Prayer: Take the next few minutes to pray your own prayer of “Hosanna” to God. Reflect on your need for him. If it helps, put yourself in the place of those lining the road on Palm Sunday, shouting “Save us, Lord, we beg” to the Lord. 

CONFESSION

Text: It is a sobering fact to realize that those who shouted “Hosanna” along the road would soon be shouting “Crucify Him” in Pilate’s court. How flippant is our faith? How quickly do we turn from praise to denial? Take a moment to consider, lament, confess and repent of the ways you have abandoned Jesus with your life just days after praising him with your lips. 

Prayer: Pray this prayer: Loving God, you rode a donkey and came in peace, humbled yourself and gave yourself for us. We confess our lack of humility. As you entered Jerusalem, the crowds shouted “Hosanna: ‘Save us now!’” On Good Friday they shouted, “Crucify!” We confess our praise is often empty. We sing “Hosanna,” but cry “Crucify.” We confess that we want to be accepted and take the easy way. We do not stay true to your will. Forgive us, Lord, and help us to follow in the way of obedience. Amen.”[3]

GOSPEL 

Text: The irony in those who first shouted “Hosanna” who then called out “Crucify Him” is found in the reason Jesus was entering the city in the first place. Jesus knew he was heading for the cross when he entered the city. Therefore, in order for Jesus to be the people’s Hosanna – the one who would save them – he would have to first be the crucified one in order to save them. 

Verse: See the mind of Christ as he entered Jerusalem through these verses: And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” (Luke 18:31-33 ESV)

Prayer: Spend a few minutes in prayer, thanking Jesus for loving us so much that he entered Jerusalem knowing that he was riding to his death. Thank him for his sacrifice. Thank him for his love. Thank him for his commitment. 

Text: Our cry has not changed from the cries of the people lining the road with palm branches. We still cry out, “Hosanna – save us, Lord, we beg!” The people on the first Palm Sunday looked forward to their salvation, though they did not know what it would look like. On this latest Palm Sunday we look back to our salvation, knowing exactly what it looks like – a cross. During the Feast of Booths, many sacrifices were made.[4] You can picture camping all around the Temple grounds watching sacrifices bound with cords, some made from palm branches, and being taken in for slaughter. 

Verse: As you read this Psalm again, Reflect on the fact that Jesus is the festal sacrifice bound with cords that answered our cries of Hosanna. “Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!” (Psalm 118:25-27 ESV)

Prayer: Spend these remaining moments in joyful prayer, thanking Jesus for answering our cries of Hosanna with his great act of sacrificial love. 

[1] Worship Sourcebook, 584-585

[2] Pope, M. H. (1992). Hosanna. In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Vol. 3, p. 291). New York: Doubleday.

[3] Worship Sourcebook, 586. 

[4] Josephus, Antiquities, 3.10.4