This lesson was shared during Joy Mass at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on Palm Sunday (March 24, 2024).
Today is Palm Sunday, the first Sunday of Holy Week, a week celebrated by Christians since the early 4th century to commemorate the final week of Jesus’s life as he entered Jerusalem, where he was betrayed, condemned to death, crucified, and died.
As Jesus enters Jerusalem, he arrives on a donkey thus fulfilling Jewish prophesy about the Messiah: “Behold, your king is coming to you, a humble liberator and savior riding on a donkey!” Zechariah 9:9.
Also, there’s a story in the Bible, specifically the book of Numbers (22:22-35), in which God gives the gift of speech to an animal, whose words end up protecting and saving the people of Israel! And that animal was a donkey! God seems to love using donkeys to fulfill his will.
As Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey, the people wave palm fronds, which are symbols of hope and victory. They also lay their palm fronds on the ground for Jesus, which we can understand as an ancient way of rolling out the red carpet for him.
And what do the people say and shout? They shout, “Hosanna!” This is the Greek translation of a Hebrew word “Hoshiah – Na!” which means “Help us!” and “Save us!” and “Liberate us!” (Psalm 118:25). They are cheering for Jesus and asking him to liberate them from the oppressive Roman empire. They know Jesus has special powers and they want him to use those powers to liberate the people from the evil clutches of Caesar. But does Jesus do that? Does Jesus liberate the Jewish people from Rome during Holy Week?
Not really. However, through his death and then subsequent resurrection he liberates us from the oppressive power of sin. He liberates us from spiritual oppression. So, the people ask for a political liberation, but God grants them (and us) spiritual liberation.
Sometimes when we pray for something, God gives us what we pray for in his own way.
Have you ever prayed for something you wanted and ended up receiving what you needed?
That’s what happens during Holy Week. The people ask Jesus to save them from Rome, which is the salvation they want, but Jesus saves them from sin, which is the salvation that we all need. We cannot properly confront political oppression without first confronting spiritual oppression.
We say, “Hosanna” every time we celebrate Holy Eucharist, during what is called the “Sanctus.”[1] We say, “Holy, holy, holy Lord God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory” (Isaiah 6:3).
These words come from the Prophet Isaiah’s vision of God’s heavenly throne when an angel placed a live coal on the prophet’s mouth and said, “Now that this has touched your mouth, your sin and guilt have disappeared” (Isaiah 6:7). This is a symbol of the Eucharist which we receive on our mouths.
Then, we say, “Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord!” (Psalm 118: 25 – 26). Why do we say this? Just as “Hosanna” was the word cheered and shouted by the people on Palm Sunday to celebrate and welcome Christ’s arrival in their midst so too do we say “Hosanna” today during this part of Eucharistic prayer to celebrate and welcome Christ’s imminent arrival in our midst, in the form of bread and wine. This is our way of saying, “Jesus is coming to be with us!”
[1] The Sanctus (initially without the Benedictus) entered the Eucharistic prayer in the early 4th century (in the Barcelona Papyrus), likely first in Egypt and Syria.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 