HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST!
(A biblical reflection on the PASSION SUNDAY [PALM SUNDAY] – 25 March 2018)
Gospel Reading for the Procession with Palms: Mark 11:1-10 [Year B]
Alternative Gospel Reading: John 12:12-16
The Scripture Text
And when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you ener it you will find a colt tied, on which no none has ever sat; untie it and bring it. If any one says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” And they went away, and found a colt tied at the door out in the open street; and they untied it. And those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” and they told them what Jesus had said; and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and threw their garments on it; and He sat upon the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11:1-10 RSV)
Going to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday Jesus wanted to place His people before the final decision to accept His message. Thus for the first and only time He let Himself be celebrated as Messiah, where otherwise He always held back. But in the end, His own people rejected Him, as we see on Good Friday.
There is a serenity in the report of Mark: Jesus knows the details ahead of time and determines the events: thus He knows that the disciples entering the city will find a colt of an ass. (In the Gospel of John, Christ finds the colt only after His being welcomed by the crowd.) The owner or some bystanders try to question the doing of the apostles (this is mentioned in the Gospel of Mark, not in the Gospel of Matthew, but again in the Gospel of Luke). But they give in, when told that the master has said so. Jesus must have been well known to the owner.
That Jesus is riding on a colt as king is foretold by the prophet Zechariah (9:9) as singled out in Matthew 21:5, but not in the Gospels of Mark nor Luke.
People hail Jesus with “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Mark 11:9, see Psalm 118:26 [RSV]; Matthew 21:15; 23:39). The Messiah is “He who comes.” His people acclaim with “Hosanna” (which would mean “long live the son of David!) although originally “Hosanna” meant “Lord, grant salvation!” People expect Him to restore the reign of his father David.
Some of the disciples spontaneously place their garments on the donkey. Others spread them on the roadway before Him, which again reminds us of the “WAY” along which Jesus leads His disciples. Others cut leafy branches from the fields on the Mount of Olives.
Some disciples go before Him and some follow, but without the great crowds which we find in the Gospel of Matthew. They joyfully sing “Hosanna” as a joyful cry of praise to God. They shout and sing together that Jesus is the one blessed by God who is coming to Jerusalem in His name.
He comes as a humble servant ready to give even His life, to ransom the people into the freedom of God’s kingdom. His humble entry reveals that He is the Messiah to those who have faith in God, but conceals it from those who seek a different kind of Messiah.
Short Prayer: Hosanna to the Son of David who comes to save us with selfless love. Amen.