Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

HOSANNA!

Can you say that word along with me? HOSANNA!

Now let me tell you what that means! Hosanna is a Hebrew / Aramaic word that is a commanding, imperative plea meaning “Save Us Now!”

I am a firm believer that every word in this Bible was written not just for people living there and then but also just as much for us people living here and now. I am an even firmer believer that is the case with the word Hosanna!

There and then, the people of God living in the Promised Land, the very same people who lined the dirt and stone streets of Jerusalem on that very first Palm Sunday, needed to cry Hosanna. They had every right to cry Hosanna. While they were the people of God, God’s chosen people, and while they were living in the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they needed to cry Hosanna because while it appeared that everything was in their favor, looks can be very deceiving.

While being the people of God and living in the Promised Land, the Children of Israel were living under the controlling rule of a hated government, the Roman Government. The Roman Government really had no use for the Children of Israel. All that the Roman Government wanted was the strategic position of the Promised Land, at the crossroads of the major trade routes between Rome and Egypt and the Far East. To maintain their powerful rule of the entire civilized world, the Roman Government needed the Promised Land so its inhabitants, the Children of Israel, were merely tolerated as collateral inconvenience. The Roman Government merely tolerated the Children of Israel and all its religious ceremonies and traditions. While living under the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome, life for the Children of Israel was not pleasant or desirable.

Living under such trying conditions, the Children of Israel had hearts that were burning within them, hearts that wanted their God to do something, hearts that yearned for the promised Messiah, Whom they assumed would ride into Jerusalem on a mighty, victorious white horse, wage war against the Roman Government, overthrowing them, getting rid of them, and seating Himself on Israel’s throne and re-establishing their identity, their self-respect, their self-worth, their freedom and their independence.

Hosanna: SAVE US NOW! That was their song and that’s why they were singing it.

As I look at today’s world, Hosanna is a word that is just as powerful and just as needed to be cried by each of us today. You, I’m sure, know what I mean.

I am going to guess that there is not one of us here today who can honestly say that we are better off today than we were one year ago, two years ago. The past couple of years have handed most of us some major blows. Jobs have been lost or hours and wages reduced, with more losses threatened. Cars have been repossessed. Homes have been foreclosed. Retirement savings have evaporated. Banks have stopped lending money. Credit card debt has risen. Interest rates have dropped. The sales tax has increased. New taxes have been levied. Companies have simply gone out of business. The national debt has escalated. The words “discretionary income” have largely become an oxymoron. The only really shining point in all this is that we are indeed today paying half what we were paying for gasoline one year ago. Imagine what things would be like today if we were still paying $4.50 per gallon!

When all that is considered, one sees a very bleak picture. It’s no wonder that I frequently hear and overhear comments from people that they’re really hurting, that they’re feeling depressed, that they’re not sleeping properly, that they worry most of the time, that they’re feeling anxious, that they’re today eating, drinking and smoking more, exercising less and more frequently turning to the use of legal and illegal drugs, or that they are concerned about close friends or loved ones for whom those statements are accurate.

HOSANNA!

Can you say that word along with me? HOSANNA!

My friends, Palm Sunday fell at the right time for all of us. Palm Sunday gives us the opportunity to take our eyes off ourselves and our problems and to fix our eyes on Jesus like never before. Palm Sunday gives us the opportunity without apology and without feeling self-conscious to cry out Hosanna: “O Lord, save us now!” Palm Sunday gives us the opportunity to remember and praise and celebrate Him, for Whom life was not always rosy, but Who persevered on His singular assigned task in life to clothe Himself in our flesh, to walk in our shoes, to feel our pain, to know our hurts, to empathize with us in every single imaginable way, then ultimately to carry our sins and our failures to Calvary, to conquer our sin, our death and the seemingly unlimited power of the devil by His own death and Resurrection in order to give us some eternally shining news, in order to provide us constant hope and unfailing strength.

Does that sound good? Does that sound like something you want? Does that sound like something you need? Well, look nowhere else. All that – and more – we find in no one but Jesus Christ, the One Who comes in the Name of the Lord, the One Who hears our Hosannas and actually is more than able to do something about them.

For most of you here today, you probably just needed this reminder, this encouragement. For some of you here today, though, this may be new news to you. If you want to know more or if you need some extra encouragement and prayer, come forward here to the fountain after the service. Let me listen. Let me pray. Let us together say Hosanna: Save Us Now!

Hosanna: Make it your song today! It’s a song that will not, cannot, fail you.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena