They shouted, “Hosanna!” days before they would cry for his crucifixion. Do you ever wonder what on earth happened?! Hosanna means, “Save!” They thought he would save them. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and they called him “Son of David,” rightly seeing the fulfillment of prophecy from Zechariah 9:9. His would be the kingdom that will never see an end. The streets of Jerusalem were wild with anticipation. Yet, never had they been so wrong. “Save us!” was their cry and save He did, but not in the way they imagined.
I imagine that first of Palm Sundays, myself in the crowd, because that’s right where I belong among a crowd that testifies to a belief they have not fully understood. I’m in the moment of praise where my heart is full and my throat grows tight with tears and all feels right in this moment. I believe He has come to be my king and so I shout, “King!” I believe He is blessed so I cry, “Blessed!” I believe He will save and so I shout, “Hosanna!” My heart stretches over the beauty of my children shouting those same words. I am certain of God’s presence and plan and I raise my palm branch in unity with those around me. We have the long awaited king, who will establish a kingdom that will never end. The oppression of Roman rule will be no more. “Save us!” I make my plea, as I watch Him ride away and the streets begin to empty.
That’s when everything gets confusing. I go home and try to put the day’s events in my Box of Expectations and it doesn’t fit. He isn’t going to be a king. He’s been arrested and death is his sentence. It’s almost like He gives up and just hands himself over to the Romans. It’s pitiful, really. I’ve heard about the miracles and now I wonder how they could possibly be true. How could they be if he could find himself in this predicament now? He’s not saving me, if he can’t even save himself! I feel betrayed. What is this that I have put my trust in? A losing cause! I am angry and I am hurt. It isn’t easy at first, but the words, “Crucify him!” escape my lips.
Palm Sunday begs the question, “What is He saving you from?” And if you don’t have a solid answer, you run the same risk that the Palm Sunday crowd succumbed to of crucifying Him with the same breath that had sung His praises. How else was the same crowd so easily persuaded in a matter of days? They had expectations for Christ that didn’t fit in His box of plans. What about you?
I’ve mentioned more than once on this blog that I would have always called myself a Christian at any point in my life, but there is a clear period when my beliefs did not line up with a solid dependence on Christ. In the same breath where I would profess my belief in Christ as the way to Heaven, I would have told you that there was no threat of Hell or the devil. I called on Christ to save me, but I had no clear vision of what He was saving me from. Maybe I thought He was saving me from making morally bankrupt decisions, but I was still making them. Maybe I thought He was saving me from a much bleaker outlook on life, although it was precisely that time in my life when I struggled with suffocating depression. I cried, “Save me!” but I can assure you I was on the cusp of crucifying the One who had come to save. The threat to my salvation was that I didn’t understand from what He intended to save me.
Do you?
Maybe you have called on Him to save you from some troubles. Or maybe you suffer from a faulty moral compass that has lead you down a dangerous path too many times. Maybe God is your can of Fix-All. Got pain? Call on Jesus! Got fear? Call on Jesus! Lonely and unloved? Jesus is the answer! Addiction? Jesus saves! And while I agree that Christ has saving power over all of these things, I beg you to call Him Savior for more than this. Life will always have its troubles and once you realize that, you might be a little frustrated that you haven’t been “saved” and call this whole God thing a farce. But God’s Word never promises that we will be free of sorrow and tribulation; at least not until we reach our heavenly home.
My question for you is this: Do you call Him Savior because you want Him to save you from life?
Beloved, He has saved you for life! Life in the midst of sorrow, pain, tragedy, and even death. I have been saved for this life, that I might live it to the fullest under the glory of God!
Cry Savior, because He has come to give you life and life abundantly! Cry Savior, because there is no other name under Heaven by which you might be saved! Cry Savior, because He lost His to save yours!