Palm Sunday (March 29). Hosanna. Come and save us

Prepare to Listen.  I am the light of the world.  (Jn 8:12)
 
Prayerfully Read John 12:12-19
12The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.  13So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, ‘Hosanna!  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!’  14Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: 15‘Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion.  Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!’  16His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him.  17So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify.  18It was also because they heard that he had performed this sign that the crowd went to meet him.  19The Pharisees then said to one another, ‘You see, you can do nothing.  Look, the world has gone after him!’
 
Prayerfully Wonder
As Jesus rode into Jerusalem a great crowd gathered, waved palm branches and shouted: “Hosanna!  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!”
 
Hosanna is a word we often sing.  It’s in old and new hymns of praise and often used as another way to say hallelujah.  And that’s what we think hosanna means--praise the Lord.  But we got that wrong!  It’s not a word of praise.  It’s an urgent petition for salvation.  The Hebrew literally means, “Oh, save us now!” [1]  And that’s what the crowd going with Jesus into Jerusalem were pleading for that day.  Salvation.
 
Not a future salvation, ‘heaven when I die.’  But a present one.  They wanted salvation from the Roman occupiers.  It took courage to shout out that Jesus was king.  It was a protest against Pilate and they risked his anger and punishment by his army.  They pleaded for regime change, for salvation from brutal and cruel Roman rule.  They wanted Jesus to be king and save them from Pilate, Caesar, Rome.  It was a daring protest march.
 
As I write these words today, I think of immigrant families in this country being torn apart by a regime that wants to expel them; I think of protesters treated with cruelty by a government desperate to hold onto power; I think of people the world over being attacked, oppressed by a bully dictator, or a brutal marriage, or violent care-takers.  I think of them and urgently plead, Hosanna, Lord!  Save them now.
 
Who do you know who might need to use the word hosanna today?  Pray for them.
 
Prayerfully Respond
I cry, Hosanna Lord, for all those being oppressed today.  Depose and scatter their oppressors and set the let the oppressed go free.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Shout hosanna for those who need saving from oppression today.
[1] Butler Bass, Diana.  A Beautiful Year.  New York, NY: St. Marin’s Essentials.  2025, p. 154.