
Shout Hosanna
Easter at New Life
Todd Blansit
April 2, 2023
John 12.12-19
Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”
16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18 Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
We got to shout because that’s what the disciples did. As Jesus came down the path from the Mount of Olives, Luke tells us that the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen.
That is, they shouted. Sometimes things are so good, that you just burst with a Yes! Your team scores, your kid gets into college, you get promoted, and your kid gets a job and moves out of the house!
The text says they shouted joyfully for all the deeds of power that they had seen in Jesus.
We have so much to be grateful for this week. The enemy knows that, and you can bet, he will do everything he can to distract us from this Holy Week’s true meaning. Don’t let him win.
What were these deeds of power they had seen in Jesus?
They had to shout because they had seen his miracles. They saw the lame walk, the blind see, and people in spiritual prisons set free.
They saw him eat with despised people, tax collectors, sinners, prostitutes. It was a symbol of radical love for them and affirmation of God’s care for them.
They had experienced the power of Jesus’ teachings, especially his stories. They had seen in their mind’s eye the story pictures of the parables he told and could imagine a God not as a spiteful white-bearded mean man in the sky, a woman on her knees searching for a lost coin, a father who hikes up his robe, bearing his ankles running across a field to welcome home the prodigal son. Their imaginations were unlocked to see God not as another tyrant, but as a friend, and companion, who is merciful, forgiving, and kind.
They could see a new standard, the Golden Rule, where you treat others as you want to be treated.
I wonder if what you have seen and heard is enough to make you shout Hosanna this morning.
What is this word, Hosanna? The word hosanna is more than “yay” like something you’d shout at a football game. It does carry a sense of jubilation, but it also means save us—now! The people were ready for change. They wanted to be saved from the lives they knew to find a better life.
Shout Hosanna.
Will you be part of the crowd that shouts Hosanna?
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