Hosanna to the Son of David!

We are going to break from our series through Hebrews and discuss a significant event that took place in history almost 2000 years ago

Something that has become known as Palm Sunday

Most, if not all, protestant churches will be acknowledging this in their services today

Palm Sunday kicks off Holy Week

What are the significant events make up Holy Week?

This week recounts the very significant events that took place during Jesus’s last week of Earthly ministry; Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday (the last supper), Good Friday (Jesus is crucified), Easter Sunday (Jesus Resurrected!)

CONTEXT

Up to this point Jesus has been healing, teaching, and preaching the coming Kingdom of God

He had been primarily doing this around Jerusalem

But now he is going to enter into Jerusalem

Jerusalem is significant because that is where the temple was located

The Temple is where sacrifices were made to atone for the sin of the people

It’s where the most prominent religious leaders would be

Lets jump into today’s scripture and as we do, we will continue to fill in some of the context surrounding this notable event in human history

Matthew 21:9 ESV

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

During this time the Jewish people were making their pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival.

There would have been large numbers of people migrating into the city to make sacrifices at the Temple

Jesus, being Jewish, no doubt had made this trip many times before this event

But this event was different

When Jesus made it to Jerusalem, for what would shape out to be his last week of earthly ministry, he made an entrance

A peculiar on at that

He had his disciples get him a donkey

They put their cloaks on it

He rode on it in the middle of the crowd

They made a noise the entire way and put things on the pathway for the donkey to walk on

All the while shouting Hosanna to the Son of David!

What does this mean?

Why would the crowd pick this word and phrase?

Save us, we pray, O LORD!

It comes from this particular phrase found in Psalm 118

let me share a little more of that Psalm with you

Psalm 118:25 ESV

Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!

In Greek Hosanna is ὡσαννά - is not quite a transliteration of the Hebrew hwšyʿh nʾ

Instead it seems to be the Aramaic form of the Hebrew

The language of the Hebrew people was both Hebrew and Aramaic; Most written (as far as the Bible is concerned) is Hebrew but the people spoke Aramaic

The unifying language of the country and surrounding areas was from the Hellenization time period brought on by Alexander the Great and that language was Greek

Your English translation does not say Hosanna, rather it says Save us. In Aramaic, Hosanna means save indeed.

Hosanna, became a greeting used around Passover.

However our text says more than just Hosanna

It says Hosanna TO the Son of David

It appears that Hosanna has become a greeting often used amongst the pilgriming Jews

They are pronouncing blessing on those pilgriming in the name of the Lord

We can relate

around Christmas we often greet each other with Merry Christmas as it marks the season

Or some churches will dismiss by saying God be with you, instead of good-bye

It is interesting here is that the crowd is applying this TO Jesus

And they they add Hosanna in the highest

In effect they are saying HE represents salvation

How is the crowd applying this greeting to Jesus?

This especially becomes clear when we look at more of the Psalm that the crowd is referencing

God did save us

Psalm 118:26–27 ESV

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!

The Lord is God

I am not sure that at the time the people could put all these implications together, but being on this side of the sacrifice Jesus made for us, this is incredibly profound

What had become a greeting and further applied to Jesus has sacrificial implications

Bind the festal sacrifice with cords...

Matthew 21:10 ESV

And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”

We see the response of the people when Jesus entered into Jerusalem

They are like, wait, what?

Who is this?

Is this the Messiah?

Some of their eventual response should be our response and we find it in the last two verses of the Psalm

Our Response

Psalm 118:28–29 ESV

You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

How have you responded?

A right understanding of who Jesus is produces this response.

When the dots are connected

When the light turns on

When the fog lifts

When the sound becomes clear

When the focus becomes laser

You are grateful

When your heart softens

When you realize the foolishness of the world

When the word ceases to be foolishness

When the Holy Spirit enables you,

you will see that He is Good

Then you will see yourself against this good and perfectly Holy God

And you’ll be sorry

You’ll realize that you are not and never will be perfect, the standard required to stay in a perfect place called heaven

Then, Lord willing, you’ll remember that the Bible says a man named Jesus humbly entered into a great city on a beast of burden

And would later bear your burden

And that he carried that burden to the cross

To restore His relationship with you

And you will see that His love is a steadfast love that truly lasts forever

Amen! Amen!