The Sabbath comes and passes. It’s now Sunday morning, the Sunday before the Passover. Jesus orders two of His disciples to go ahead of Him and find a donkey and bring it to Him. It is upon this donkey that Jesus will ride into Jerusalem in fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah:
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem!
Look, your King is coming to you;
He is righteous and victorious,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
(Zech 9:9 HCSB)
Humble and riding on a donkey. When kings returned from battle they rode on horses or in chariots. Jesus was entering victorious in battle but the battle He fought was a spiritual battle. He came first as a humble, suffering servant. He’ll return again as the victorious leader, as the King of kings, and as the Leader of the entire Heavenly host prepared to destroy the forces of evil for eternity. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
As Jesus enters Jerusalem the people begin shouting and praising Him. These are the same people that knew first hand about the resurrection of Lazarus. There shouts were:
Hosanna!
He who comes in the name
of the Lord is the blessed One!
The coming kingdom
of our father David is blessed!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!
(Mark 11:9-10 HCSB)
The religious leaders in Jerusalem would have recognized these words. It goes back to the Psalms.
Lord, save us!
Lord, please grant us success!
He who comes in the name
of the Lord is blessed.
From the house of the Lord we bless you.
(Psalm 118:25-26 HCSB)
Hosanna is a conflation of two Hebrew words, Hosa and nna, the former meaning to save or rescue, and the latter meaning to beseech, to pray, while conveying a sense of urgency.
So the people from Bethany were laying their coats and branches before Jesus as He entered Jerusalem, a tradition used for the return of the king from a victorious battle. At the end of WWII there were parades with confetti and people were celebrating the return of the victorious army in its fight against Naziism. The laying of coats and branches before Jesus would have been similar.
By these acts the people were saying, “Here comes the victorious King.” And in their praise they were shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna.” Save us conquering king. But save us from what?
What do we want to be saved from? What the people of Bethany want to be saved from? Perhaps they saw that Jesus had power over death and they wanted to be spared from death. Throughout human history people have sought ways to cheat death. We want to live longer and healthier but not if it means living in poverty.
What do we seek from God? Are we pleading for things that are temporal? Save me from sickness. Help me with my finances. Bring my enemies to their knees.
I don’t know what was in the minds of the people from Bethany when they shouted Hosanna and treated Jesus as a conquering king. Based on later reports on the number of early followers it seems likely at least some of them were seeking long and prosperous lives and perhaps some understood what Jesus was offering. Not long life in the physical world but eternal life in the spiritual world.
Sometimes it’s hard to get our heads, and our hearts, around the idea that the eternal is far more important than the temporal. We read the scripture and study the parables and other writings about earthly treasures vs. worldly treasures. We comprehend it in our minds but does it really make a difference in our hearts?
