Sunday, March 29, 2026
Scripture: Matthew 21:1-11
Sermon Title: Hosanna!
I’ve been to two famous parades in my life. When I was 6 years old my grandparents took two of my cousins and me to New York City to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. And I’ll be honest, I don’t remember that much of the parade since I was 6, other than that it was freezing. But when I look at pictures, I can see the crowds and the floats. When I was in college, I went to the Rose Parade out in Pasadena with my other set of grandparents since I was a Sophomore at Ohio State and Ohio State was playing in the Rose Bowl. I guess my grandparents have a thing for parades. Since I was in college, I remember that parade a lot more. It was amazing how all the floats were all made out of flowers.
Whether you’ve been to any of the big famous parades or just your local parade, I’m guessing you’ve been to a parade. You can picture the crowds, the cars and floats slowly driving down the road, candy getting thrown out, kids running to grab candy.
This past December we went to the Ormond Beach Christmas Parade, and instead of watching the parade, we were in it. We walked with Ellie’s school and threw out candy to those in the crowd.
A parade is the scene I have in mind when I picture Jesus riding his donkey into Jerusalem. I imagine the crowds lining the streets, watching Jesus ride into town riding on a colt of a donkey, waving their palms, shouting, “Hosanna!” And today, similar to how we throw candy, the people laid palm branches on the road.
Today is Palm Sunday, it begins the week in the Christian Church known as Holy Week. Holy Week is the most set apart week of the Christian Year. It begins with celebrating Jesus riding into Jerusalem, with the waving of palms, and shouts of “Hosanna”, but then things change as the week goes on. Thursday is Maundy Thursday, where we remember Jesus’s last night on earth, his last Supper with the Disciples, and how he washed their feet. Then we get to Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified for us. The day seemed like it was all over. But then Easter is coming, the empty tomb, and Resurrection. Easter is what the whole Christian faith hinges on. But this Holy Week and all the events of Holy Week begin today, with Palm Sunday.
Jesus’s disciples are following Jesus into Jerusalem, and what they are expecting is far from what happens this Holy Week. The disciples believe that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, the one that the scriptures have foretold about. And it’s true, Jesus is the Messiah.
But the disciples have a different view, a different expectation of what a Messiah will do. They are expecting Jesus to ride into Jerusalem, overthrow the Roman Government, and make himself the King of Israel. They are expecting a coup, and yet we will see that is not the way of Jesus.
It’s the week of Passover when Jesus comes to Jerusalem. Passover is a big time of celebration for the Jewish People. Many would make pilgrimages to Jerusalem. So it makes sense that Jesus and his disciples are heading to Jerusalem during this time.
Passover was a time when the Jewish People would remember how God had used Moses to rescue them from slavery in Egypt. It was called “Passover,” because they remembered how the Hebrews in Egypt had put the blood of a lamb over the doorposts of their homes, and death passed over them. Jewish People today still celebrate Passover. This year Passover coincides with Holy Week. It begins this coming Wednesday evening.
During Jesus’s time, Passover was not only a time of remembering but looking forward to a coming Messiah. Many were hopeful that someone would come and overthrow the Roman Government. They were hoping to be rescued from Rome just like they had been set free from Egypt many years ago.
When Jesus comes into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, the crowds are thinking, “he is the one!” The time has finally come. We are going to be set free.
Our Gospel Reading tells us that Jesus riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey is fulfilling an Old Testament prophecy from Zechariah. “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Matthew 21:5 or Zechariah 9:9, NIV)
Now I’m sure many of us, if we have grown up in the church, are very familiar with this story. But what we might not realize is that Jesus riding into town on a donkey, not even a grown donkey, but a colt, a foal of a donkey shows something important about Jesus. It shows us Jesus isn’t your average king. Jesus does not come in power but comes in humility.
Riding on a colt is not what you would necessarily expect for a Messiah.
Picture a parade, a presidential motorcade. You expect the president to come riding into town in a limo, or some fancy expensive car. You don’t expect the president to come riding in on a Honda Civic.
And yet, in a way, that’s exactly what Jesus does. No chariots, no horses. Simply a donkey, and not even an adult donkey, but the colt of a donkey.
Here we see the prophecy coming true, showing that yes, Jesus is the Messiah. And yet, at the same time, we see how humble Jesus is. But should we be surprised by this? His birth was humble as well. Laid in a manger, a feeding trough for animals. Jesus will live a humble life, ride into Jerusalem on a humble donkey, die a humble criminal’s death, and be placed in a borrowed tomb. All of Jesus’s life and ministry was so humble, even this moment which should be his coronation, his inaugural parade is still humble.
The crowds spread their cloaks on the road for Jesus, others cut off branches from the trees and spread them on the road. This is a sign of respect to Jesus.
And the words the crowds shouted proclaimed who Jesus was, “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heaven.” (Matthew 21:9, NIV)
The Word “Hosanna” means “Save us.” The people in the crowds were crying out to Jesus asking him to save them. Save them from Rome. Save them from political oppression. “Hosanna” is also a word that is used as a word of praise. So with shouts of “save us”, they were praising Jesus as well.
Yet Jesus had come to save them from so much more than only Roman oppression. Jesus had come to save those gathered in the streets that day, and also us here today, from sin and death.
When you shout “Hosanna” today, what are you asking Jesus to save you from? Are you in need of being saved from sickness, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual? Are you in need of being saved from a difficult situation that you are in? Are you in need of being saved from an addiction? Do you need to be saved from bitterness and anger? On this Palm Sunday, as you shout “Hosanna,” as you cry out to be saved, what do you need saving from?
Jesus has come to save us from death, that’s what we will celebrate with the Resurrection on Easter Morning. But Jesus has also come to save us from things causing us death in the here and now as well. Things like bitterness, hopelessness, addiction, brokenness. Jesus has come to save.
“When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?” (Matthew 21:10, NIV)
“The crowds answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” (Matthew 21:11, NIV)
In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus asks the disciples, “Who Do you say I am?” The disciples declared that he was the Messiah. And now the Passover Crowds in Jerusalem are asking the same question. “Who is this?”
Who do you say that Jesus was and is? Was Jesus just a prophet and teacher, or was he so much more? Is he your Lord and Savior? Holy Week is a wonderful time for us to ask ourselves, “Who do we say that Jesus is?”
Today in the Church is not only Palm Sunday, but it’s also known as Passion Sunday as well. Often though we only focus on Palm Sunday. We focus on the shouts of Hosanna, and forget about the Passion of Christ, which is his death on the cross. If you come to worship only on Sundays, and don’t go to a Maundy Thursday Service or a Good Friday service, you will go straight from Palm Sunday to Easter. You will go from shouts of “Hosanna,” to shouts of “He is Risen!” But you will miss the crucifixion. You will miss the shouts of “Crucify Him.” This Holy Week, let us not miss out on The Passion. Let’s not miss out on the Crucifixion.
That’s why we began our service with waving palms and songs with the word “Hosanna,” in them, but we will finish our service with a song associated with Good Friday. And for those who are able to stay for the Agape Feast after worship in Bleekman Hall, we will hear the story of the Last Supper. Let us not go from “Hosanna,” to “He is Risen,” without experiencing the Last Supper and the crucifixion.
When we remember that today is also Passion Sunday, we remember the Passion of Christ. We remember that Jesus died on a cross, died a death he didn’t deserve, and that his death was not the end of the story. Through this horrible tragedy, God brings about forgiveness, mercy, and redemption for all of us.
It’s amazing how quickly in scripture the crowds go from shouting, “Hosanna, save us” to “Crucify Him!” Now maybe these aren’t all the same people, but I’m guessing many in the crowds are the same ones who one day shouted “Hosanna,” and then a few days later shouted, “crucify him.” How quickly the crowds turned on Jesus.
And it’s easy for us to look at this and think, “How could they do that to Jesus?” But the truth is, we all do the same.
It’s easy to shout God’s praises, it’s easy to shout Hosanna when things are going well. A loved one has been healed from sickness. Hosanna! A new baby has been born in the family. Hosanna! You got that job you’ve been praying for. Hosanna! You closed on a new home. Hosanna!
It’s an entirely different thing to follow Jesus when our prayers aren’t answered the way we want. It’s an entirely different thing to still follow Jesus when he doesn’t meet our expectations. When the healing doesn’t come. When you lose a loved one. When a spouse leaves. When a child relapses. When you find out you’ve been laid off.
That’s when it’s difficult to shout Hosanna. That’s when it’s difficult to shout the praises of God. That’s when it becomes easier to shout, “Crucify Him.”
Many of you know that I lost my first baby. And I remember that the last Sunday I preached was Mother’s Day. I talked so much in that sermon about how my prayers to be a mom were finally being answered. There were lots of praises, lots of shouts of Hosanna in that sermon. But just a week later, on Pentecost Sunday, my water broke, much too early for water to break. Only 18 weeks pregnant. And although I didn’t say the words, “Crucify Him.” I was certainly not shouting, “Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest.” I was devastated, asking “Why God?” In just a week’s time, how quickly my words had changed.
And that is same for the crowds in Jerusalem. In just a week’s time, how quickly the crowds go from “Hosanna,” to “Crucify Him!” We are fickle people. And yet, that’s ok. God can take our questions. God can take our anger. God can take our emotions. We might be a fickle people, but we don’t serve a fickle God. Even when we are struggling, our God is faithful. Our God is with us.
As we enter into this Holy Week, as we sing the praises of Jesus, as we shout “Hosanna,” and proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior of the world, we must look ahead to the Crucifixion on Good Friday as well. We must ask ourselves, “Is my faith only based on the good times, when things are going my way, when my prayers are being answered, or do I still have faith even when Jesus doesn’t answer my prayers the way I want, and maybe moves in ways I don’t understand?
The crowds, and disciples had expectations of Jesus. And the big expectation was that he would overthrow the Roman Government. He would set them free from Rome. When that didn’t happen, the disciples, the crowds felt lost. What kind of Messiah is he? This isn’t what they expected.
No, the Roman Government didn’t get overthrown. But Jesus came to do so much more. Jesus came to overthrow sin and death itself. He has done it.
And if that is not deserving of the words, Hosanna, I don’t know what is.
We have been forgiven of our sins. Sin and death have been defeated. Jesus has done it!
Rejoice in that good news this Palm Sunday, this Holy Week, this coming Good Friday and Easter. Hosanna! Jesus has saved us and is continuing to save us.
Amen