Hosanna Hosanna
A reflection on Easter and Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday
I am aware that often times I fail to make “holiday themed” essays or podcasts, however it is also true that most holidays are rather silly. This holiday though is quite the opposite however. For this is the Easter season, with last Sunday being Palm Sunday, one of my absolute favorite Sunday’s if not my favorite. The reasons for why it is my favorite has changed somewhat over the years however. When I was a young I liked Palm Sunday so much because I liked to wave around the little palm branches. While simultaneously remembering back to a particular Sunday that a horse shaped cart was brought in to Sunday school. (It was a horse cut-out placed on wheels, each kid got a chance to ride on it through the halls.) Certainly an enjoyable experience for any toddler, one to remember, especially as we sang those words “Hosanna, Hosanna.” Fond memories have for years been the reason that I so loved Palm Sunday, yet now I have a different reason for loving Palm Sunday so much.
So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. 8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Hosanna in the highest!”10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”
11 So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”
— Matthew 21:6-11 NKJV
I can’t help be think about Jesus riding through that city, often chapter headings call it “the Triumphal entry.” In my mind though I often think of it as the “Sombre Entry”. Obviously the people were anything but solemn, they were singing and perhaps dancing, calling out to Jesus, rejoicing for the “prophet” who has come into town. Certainly to these men and women it was a triumphal entry. Curiously, or perhaps not curiously, we are never afforded Jesus’ perspective, rather we see through the disciples eyes. Obviously because the gospels are works of journalism, the disciples recording what they thought and felt themselves. Which in all likelihood for them was triumph at this moment, witnessing their master being received in such a manner. Taking no heed of what Jesus had told them earlier on in their time with their savior.
“Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy”
- John 16: 19-20.
They probably weren’t giving much thought to the fact that he would die shortly, yet be raised again. Certainly they weren’t thinking about his horrific manner of death. We know that Jesus was fully human and fully God; I am sure he knew his manner of death. I am equally sure that as he rode through that crowd of worshippers, he knew this would be the same crowd that days later would condemn him. In a few short days this crowd would be pleading for his crucifixion.
Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
— Matthew 26: 36 NKJV
39 Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. 40 When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” 43 [f]Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
— Luke 22: 39-44 NKJV
We know that Jesus had a desire that he not be crucified, evidenced here by these passages. I don’t especially blame him for his contrary will, yet I am even more grateful that he subdued his own desires. In favor of the lords Perfect will, rather than his own. It is for this reason that I now love Palm Sunday so much more than before. I think of Christ our Lord on that old donkey (it’s an old donkey in my imagination). In my imagination still, I envision the donkey giving him a bit of a hard time, as he rides down that road. Dreaming of, or more likely dreading what was to come in a few days. These self-same men and women would be crying for the streets to run red with his blood. Yet he still rode down that road, riding that obstinate old donkey to what he inevitably knew would be his death, his vicious death. The level of Godly stoicism that lived in him is something that transcends mere “stoicism” and is rather what the Bible says is “Peace that surpasses understanding.” This is perhaps the key difference between Stoicism the philosophy, and True Christianity.
Stoicism is a philosophy, and it leads one to the ability to control and regulate our own emotions in turbulent times. However the peace of the Lord gives us communion with God, who change our emotive responses to turbulent times. Stoic philosophy says “don’t get angry when hard times come, react rationally.” Peace from the Lord says “Here receive my joy despite the fact that hard times are here.” Similar but also infinitely different, as one can be done by man, the other only by God. Praise God that we are able to receive that same strength that Jesus himself received at the Mount of Olives, and the strength I am sure it took to ride into Jerusalem.
Easter
7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
Revelation 13:7-9 NKJV
Life, Death, and Resurrection, the three elements of a completed story, no story is truly a story lest it deal with these. Our Lives are in fact stories, indeed in many ways our lives are grand tales that are comprised of miniature ones. At any given point a small arc of our lives might have been lived out, containing in it those three component parts. Those three parts are essential to a story because it is what gives a narrative meaning. Life, because each of has one to live, dealing with the chaos and battle of life, striving to find out how to live it well. Death, no one gets out of the game alive, as the saying goes, and people deal with this “last enemy” in different ways. Learning to die well is an essential function of living rightly. If one struggles with the existential angst of facing death their whole lives they will have lived no life at all. Some story tellers might disagree with me, saying Life and Death is all that is required for a completed story, how people grapple with those is complete. However they would be wrong, for Resurrection is the key to dealing with death in my opinion. When one has the realization that resurrection is possible then all of a sudden death can have a purpose outside of separation from this world. Moreover resurrection is also the key to those small scale deaths we face in our life. They are the key to making sense of suffering both big and small. The realization that those small deaths in our lives can actually serve a greater purpose and need not end our lives. When we move away from friends and family a small death occurs, and an epoch of our life is over. Or perhaps injuring ourselves, thus ending a promising sports pursuit in high school or college. Resurrection is hope, hope that suffering is not the eternal state of being, but actually life is the final the end, not death.
28 And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29 When they had [h]twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.
The King on a Cross
32 Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross. 33 And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him [i]sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.
35 Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, [j]that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet:
“They divided My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.”36 Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there. 37 And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him:
THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
28 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone [a]from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.
5 But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”
Excerpts from - Matthew 27 & 28 NKJV
I want to end this little reflection on this principle, the natural world reflects the spiritual world. Our lives take on meaning, and the form that they do, because they reflect something greater. Hence the Trinity says ‘let us make man in “Our Image”’. So we are hylomorphic beings, body soul and spirit, even atheistic hedonists can’t escape that fact i.e. “id, ego, superego.” We reflect God and Spirit and the wider world in amazing and fantastic ways, the tripartite natures being only one quick and easy example. Yet there is another example, Christ lived a perfect life, one that we are called to emulate. It is because of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter that we can have hope at all, it is his birth (life) death, and resurrection that first created meaning in the world. In fact this how all stories have meaning, because of this principle, and it is why our lives as stories are so important. Recall that he was slain from the foundation of the world, it was always in God’s plan to give us meaning, by the resurrection of his sacrificed Son. So this Easter, remember that HE IS RISEN, and so you to can be risen by HIM! Receive that Peace that surpasses all understanding and grasp to the Hope that we can find in Christ! Then dare to live boldly with the full knowledge of a God who loves you. Cast off the spirit of this age, anxiety and depression, self-doubt and self-loathing. We are made in the image of God’s likeness, rejoice evermore, for HE IS RISEN INDEED!
— Godspeed!
Jonathan
Do you know someone who is suffering from depression or anxiety? The Nihilism that seems so pervasive right now? Share this message of hope!