On this day, they cried ‘Hosanna!’  John 12.12-19

Click to read: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2012:12-19&version=NKJV&interface=print    “The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:  “Hosanna! ?‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’? The King of Israel!” John 12.12-13

All Jerusalem is abuzz … the town is overflowing with Jewish pilgrims who are in town to observe the Passover celebration.  And now, word is out, that Jesus is indeed on his way into the city!  His disciples accompany him, as do quite a few others from Bethany.  Coming out to meet Jesus are two groups of people—those who already know about him, and believe in him, and those who are there for Passover and have heard about this One who has raised a man from the dead.  Could it be true?  Why yes, they see Lazarus for themselves! 

What kind of man is this who can call a dead man from the grave?  The same one who opened the eyes of the man born blind, and the same who had made the lame man walk, turned ordinary water into wine … the one who calls himself I AM.  Why, in all the land, there is no one like Jesus.  Of course, folks have to see him for themselves—sure that if he could do all these things, he could surely free them from Rome’s tyranny as well!

It would have made better sense for Jesus to come into Jerusalem in a stealth manner; after all, the authorities wanted him dead.  Not Jesus.  It is his time.  Jesus comes riding on a donkey, which is his declaration of who he is—their long-awaited Messiah, a fulfillment of the words of Zechariah, the prophet: ‘Rejoice greatly…your king comes to you…humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’  Pretty specific, wouldn’t you say? 

It was the tradition of the east—the king that came into the city riding on a horse was intent on war, whereas the king who came riding upon a donkey was coming in peace—Jesus came as our Prince of Peace.  And so the celebrants use the palm branches they brought to wave as they sang praises at the Passover, and shout “Hosanna!”   ‘Hosanna’ means ‘save now’ . . . O, Jesus would save, but he did not just come to save them from Rome, but from their sins … forever.

Hosanna!

Christine