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HOSANNA TO THE KING!
In the name + of Jesus.
With the Passover festival only days away,
Jerusalem was already swelling with pilgrims.
People came from Judea and Galilee, and others traveled much farther
distances. People came from Egypt, from
around the Mediterranean coast, and from nations east. Historians have suggested that Jerusalem grew
to a population of about a quarter million for the feast, although the
estimates vary widely. Suffice it to
say: Jerusalem was surging with people.
With all these people thronging into
Jerusalem, the Romans would beef up security.
Pontius Pilate, who would usually stay in Caesarea on the coast of the
Mediterranean because it was a much nicer place, made it a point to be in
Jerusalem for Passover. He was there to
ensure that the crowds did not turn into mobs.
After all, Passover was a celebration of Israel being freed from slavery
in Egypt. God had granted deliverance
through the prophet Moses. If it were
true that the Messiah had come, wouldn’t the Jews expect a similar deliverance
from their enemies? How much would it
take for the Passover celebration to turn into a revolution? The Romans were on hand to prevent any
threats.
But expectations were high. Consider how Jesus was celebrated when he
entered Jerusalem. “Those who went before and those who followed were
shouting, ‘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)! They were eager for a renewed kingdom. They hailed Jesus as the king to bring it
about. St. Matthew noted, “When he
entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up” (Matthew 21:10). Both the size of the crowd and their
sentiments had to get the attention of the Romans. Oddly, the Gospel writers do not say anything
about Roman soldiers called out to suppress Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. The only people who commanded Jesus, “Rebuke
your disciples” (Luke 19:39) were the Pharisees. Although the Pharisees also longed for the
Messiah King to come to Jerusalem, they denied the idea that Jesus was it.
Jerusalem had seen its share of kings come and go. For several centuries, different factions of
Greek rulers took turns possessing Palestine.
Then the Romans came and seized control.
Once the rivals were wiped out, they enforced peace. Eventually, Herod the Great became king in
Jerusalem. But Herod’s son proved to be incompetent,
so Rome took over again which is why Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea. All this makes us wonder: What was so great
about Jerusalem that made so many different people want to be king there?
Well, why does a king want to gain control of anything? Money and power. Major trade routes ran through Jerusalem and
Palestine. Routes from Africa to Asia
and Europe had to go through Palestine.
Whoever controlled the land gained a lot in revenue. The land was strategic and lucrative, and
competing kings knew it.
Certainly you can appreciate why kings vied for control. After all, we all have a desire to be kings
or queens of our own world. We all want
control. We want everything done the way
that we think they should be done. The
problem is that everyone else wants that, too.
When their will conflicts with our will, there are bitter words, rivalries,
threats, law suits, and even violence.
We get angry over everything from politicians to coaching decisions to
people playing music too loud to who took the last piece of dessert. When we do not get our way, we let other
people know it.
This goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. When the devil tempted Adam and Eve to reject
God’s word and to do what they wanted, he told them, “God knows that when you eat of (the forbidden
fruit) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). We
all want to be kings, queens, and gods of our own world. Even God falls under our scrutiny. When God’s word does not agree with our will,
we conclude that God has it wrong. His
word is too mean, too restrictive, or too outdated. Every heart has one throne in it, and we
often tell God that he is sitting in our chair.
This is why God
often lets you realize that you have no control. Your word and your will carry no weight. This is what the Lord says: “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). No matter what you strive to
do, the Lord can derail it in a moment.
Your life can be up-ended by a virus, a thunderstorm, a company choosing
to go in a different direction, or an unwelcomed phone call. This is when you are forced to give up the
illusion that you are king or queen of your own little world. Your reign is temporary. Whatever power you think you have is limited. Jesus’ reign is the only one that matters. No one can cast him from his throne, ever. Since Jesus reigns supreme and forever, all
must answer to him. “Therefore, O
kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling… Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Psalm
2:10-12).
Hosanna to the king! Jesus was
received as king when he entered Jerusalem, but Jesus is unlike any king this world
knows. All the other kings came to
Jerusalem to take from the people. They
took freedom and wealth and even dignity.
When Jesus came to Jerusalem, he did not seek to take anything from the
people, except their sins and the punishment that those sins deserve. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, he was being
presented as a sin offering. Kings don’t
go out and die for their people; kings sent out their people to die for
them. But Jesus comes to suffer and die
for us.
In our sinfulness, we have pushed others around to try to control our
world. Jesus did the opposite. Jesus offered himself to be pushed around by
leaders who thought they could control their world by killing Jesus off. His willingness to suffer for us atones for
our unwillingness to be inconvenienced by other people. In our sinfulness, we have refused to honor
God’s word whenever he has told us to do things that we deemed unfair or
unsavory. Jesus did the opposite. He willingly suffered a punishment that was
unfair and died a death that was unsavory.
The innocent one was condemned for our guilt. The man from heaven suffered hell for all
people on earth. All this so that we
would not suffer the judgment our sins deserve. “Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Psalm
2:12).
Hosanna to the king! “Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David”
(Mark 11:9-10)! Jesus suffered and
died to deliver us out of a kingdom of darkness and death. But in order to establish a kingdom that
endures, Jesus rose from the dead. As we
confess in our prayers every Sunday, Jesus lives and reigns. He holds authority over death and the grave,
sin and Satan, and over everything else in heaven and on earth. Do not be deceived by the wickedness in the
world, thinking that it proves there is no way Jesus reigns and controls all
things. The wickedness in this world
comes from the sinners in it, not from Jesus.
How do we get what we want in this world in order to establish our own little
kingdoms in it? We have to dominate, destroy,
defame, or denigrate other people. We
try to establish our little kingdoms by sinning against others. Not so Jesus Christ!
Hosanna to the king! The kingdom
of Jesus is ruled by grace and mercy.
First, he sets people free from the tyranny of death, from the
oppression of guilt, and from the taunting of the devil. You do not need to live your life with fear
or shame. Jesus has defeated your
enemies for you. Sin and death and the
devil cannot harm you. Your king, Jesus,
has conquered and crushed them. And so,
you are free. But secondly, Jesus also
bestows upon you amazing gifts. He
blesses you with divine favor. As you go
through life, you never have to wonder what God thinks of you. Jesus tells you that you are beloved by the Father
in heaven. He regards you as his very
own children. He may discipline you with
various hardships, but he will never disown you. He may withdraw some blessings from you to
show you that you do not need them, but he will never withdraw his love or his
promises. He may remind you that you are
still not in control with circumstances that are overwhelming and stressful,
but Jesus never loses control. He even
uses the evils we endure for his own purposes and for our ultimate good.
Hosanna to the king. Jesus lives
and reigns for you. His love is boundless,
and his faithfulness is firm. If Jesus
loves you this much that he would rescue you from your sins, then everything he
decrees to you is for your good. His word
is true, and his ways are always right.
Jesus never gives us instructions just to play with us or mess with our
lives. If we struggle to see how God’s
word is good, it is because we are still vying with Jesus over who is right and
who will rule in our hearts. The sinful
part of us is never willing to surrender.
We must drive it out. And we must
learn to trust that the Lord who owed nothing to us but suffered everything for
us, who died to win us for himself, and who lives to deliver all his gifts to
us—we must learn to trust that his word and his ways are always good. They may not be popular. They may seem unfair and even unsavory, but they
are always good. His word is good
because God is good.
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the crowds “who went
before and those who followed were shouting, ‘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)! Whether or
not they understood all that Jesus had come to do, I don’t know. In either case, they were right. “Hosanna to the king!” was their cry. “Hosanna” means, “Lord, save us.” Well, that is who he is, and that is what he
does. He is not a king who comes to increase
his own good, but to secure ours.
We join in with their prayer. We unite with their praises. Lord, save us. Hosanna to the king who lives and reigns over all things. And since he lives and reigns for our good, we will live and reign with him forever.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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