“Hosanna to the Messiah!”
Luke 19:28-40 (19:37) – April 13, 2025
Have you ever been at a really big celebration? I mean a public celebration—like a ticker-tape parade, a celebration of a world championship, or the visit of an A-list celebrity? Something really, really big?
From all the descriptions of the Palm Sunday Triumphant Entry in all four Gospels, that’s kind of what we are looking at today in our scripture passage. The celebration is really big, the Rabbi Jesus was a big-name celebrity, and this entry into Jerusalem was a first-century type of a ticker-tape parade. Except with palms!
Let’s take a closer look. Here’s the situation: It’s almost Passover, the most important religious observance of the year. A great number of faithful Jews from near and far come to Jerusalem, in pilgrimage, in commemoration of the Exodus event.
Jesus comes, too. He publicly, intentionally enters Jerusalem, even though the religious leaders are not very pleased with Him or what He has been doing for the past few years. Even though Dr. Luke does not mention the prophecy in the book of Zechariah (which the other Gospels do), Jesus’s disciples must have known about the prophecy of an entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. This was clearly a scene with “Messiah” written all over it.
And Jesus does not sneak into the city, all hush-hush. No! He comes in with a parade! With crowds of people waving palms and shouting “Hosanna!” and “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”
What is the meaning of those cries of “Hosanna” and “Blessed is the King?” If we look at Psalm 118, we’ll find these words written by the psalmist. This was the usual Passover greeting one person would give another, except with the addition of the word “King.” Just to let you all know, many of the crowd in Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday morning understood what they were quoting—they were intentionally welcoming someone they hoped would be their Messiah, their King! Someone who would save them from the awful situation they were in.
There was a disconnect between the people and their limited understanding, and what Jesus actually was going to do. But I’m getting ahead of myself by rushing on to later in Holy Week. We are still here on Palm Sunday. And everyone is still excited to welcome the Rabbi Jesus—their hoped-for Messiah—into the city. They are hoping He will save them from the Romans and maybe, possibly, become their King. Except they had an earthly King in mind.
But let’s read on in our scripture passage for today. Luke makes another striking statement. He starts to mention “peace.” “Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!” What on earth is Luke mentioning “peace” for?
This sentence is an echo of the Gloria in excelsis Deo that the angels—the heavenly host—sang at the birth of the baby Jesus, several decades before. I know the heavenly host gave the shepherds good news of great joy, but wouldn’t that be good news for anybody? I know that was good news at the time Jesus was born, but isn’t that good news for today, as well? Peace? Glory in the highest? The difference is that at Jesus’s birth, it was peace on earth. Now, the crowd is saying “Peace in heaven.”
So when Jesus enters Jerusalem, the crowd prays for peace in heaven. But the coming of Jesus causes a division. It causes anything but peace on earth.
The theologian Tom Mullen makes this statement about his denomination (Society of Friends or Quakers): “They work for peace—and if you really want to cause conflict, you work for peace.” [1] So it was for the Rabbi Jesus—the Messiah Jesus riding into Jerusalem. For all that Jesus wanted to bring peace, He and His message created division, tension, and crisis—as seen by the violent reaction of the religious leaders.
I wonder about this tension, this violent reaction, this great desire for peace, yet a creation of division, tension and crisis. I know I have mentioned the Rev. Janet Hunt many time before in my sermons. She likewise ponders as we begin Holy Week, “If Jesus were to ride into my town today, what would be His means of transportation? What signs and symbols would speak today?” [2] The donkey was not the choice for a conquering King entering His capital city! The donkey was definitely a subversive choice for the Messiah, the Rabbi Jesus.
I am not even going to explore what signs and symbols would display a Kingly entrance into a city today, except to say a royal entry usually entails a large police presence, a security detail, and lots of SUVs and a limousine for the royalty to ride in. Not so for the Rabbi Jesus!
Thank God, Jesus does not do that! He is more powerful than any division, any tension, any crisis. He entered the city not as an earthly King, not as a conqueror, not to set up a nationalistic empire, but as the True Redeemer of Israel. And not of just Israel, but also of the whole world. This Holy Week is where all of the prophecies focus to a fine point, and reveal the Rabbi Jesus as not only the Messiah and King, but also as the Suffering Servant. The Lamb of God, sent to take away the sins of the world.
As we remember this Passover time, this Holy Week, we can thank God that our Lord Jesus did enter Jerusalem. As a King, as a Messiah, yes! But also as our Redeemer and Savior. Praise God, Jesus is our Redeemer and Savior, just as much as He was Redeemer and Savior for that crowd in Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday. In the first century, Jesus came to save His people from their sins. Praise God, He came to save us, too! Amen! And amen!
(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!
[1] Mullen, Tom, Laughing Out Loud and Other Religious Experiences, (Friends United Press, Richmond IN: 1989) 50.
[2] http://words.dancingwiththeword.com/2016/03/the-donkey-subversive-choice.html
Pastor, Preacher, Pray-er 