This week’s notes will follow the events of Easter week in Mark’s Gospel. We begin on Palm Sunday.
Mark 10:48-50 (NIVUK)
4 [The disciples] went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
When we read this story, we tend to hear it as an occasion of celebration, and there’s no doubt that it certainly was, but underlying that is another story. As a word ‘hosanna’ sounds upbeat, however, it actually means ‘save!‘ It’s a cry for help from a people in need of rescuing. The coming of Jesus, however, transforms this cry. This is no longer an occasion of plight, it is a time of praise. In Jesus they have found their saviour.
Has Jesus acted to ‘save’ you in anyway? Offer up your own hosanna! Do you find yourself in times of trouble? Ask for his assistance and intervention.
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