AP

Mark 11:9-10  Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “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 heaven!”.

This seemingly spontaneous reaction from the crowd as Jesus rode the donkey’s colt into Jerusalem five days before his crucifixion tells us a great deal about how the Spirit of God moves in the hearts of men.  We should not really be surprised that the Holy Spirit can and does do this, since it is God who made us in his own image and likeness.  After all, he is God – and it ought to be quite natural for him to operate in such a way.  Nevertheless, our sinful scepticism predisposes us to discount the significance of what happened.

The words and actions of the crowd are inspired by Psalm 118 (see especially verses 19-29). ‘Hosanna’ is a transliteration of the Hebrew word that means ‘save us now’ (v. 25 )and was used in the context of that psalm as a shout of praise and trust in God’s Covenant love and faithfulness.  Clearly, as Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a humble donkey, the ordinary inhabitants of the city were recognising in Jesus a possible fulfilment of God’s promise of their rescuing Messiah – his miraculous signs, his wise words, his living out the love and mercy of God, all pointed them to such a conclusion.  Of course, this made the events that would occur less than a week later (Good Friday) all the more distressing and perplexing for them, a confusion that was not to be removed until after the resurrection.

For everyone of us who has the privilege of living on our side of the resurrection there is no excuse; which is why Paul challenged the philosophers of the Areopagus with the words: “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

With our privilege also comes a responsibility.  We have no excuse if we reject Jesus as the only Saviour, the only provision God has made to bring sinful man to himself – the evidence of Scripture and history is undeniably clear.  Have we recognised our desperate need and cried out ‘Hosanna’ to the Risen Christ Jesus from the depths of our hearts?

– Bruce Christian