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Palm Sunday

Multitudes In Jerusalem Crying Hosanna

Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-44; John 12:12-19
“Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, ‘Hosanna!’ ‘Blessed is he who
comes in thename of the Lord!’ ‘Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!’
‘Hosanna in the highest!’” (Mark 11:9,10).

Introduction

he ‘Triumphal entry’ is the apparently purposeful journey,
Tfrom Bethpage and Bethany to Jerusalem. The cry of the
multitude who waved palms and Jesus’ presence with them not
only posed a radical threat to the Jewish urbanity, untamed
politicians, and head weight spiritualists of Jesus’ days but
also to corrupt systems and structures throughout history.
Jesus’ journey on a young donkey rather than on a horse with
a set of multitude crying ‘hosanna’ scythed the ideologies and
character traits that were prominent in the socio-political,
cultural, economic and ritualistic systems of those times. Today,
Palm Sunday is a time to proclaim our willingness for the Lord
to spiritually deliver us from our old-self, and depollute our
systems that are raw and rustic.
Many things could be understood from this incident
in which the people shouted ‘Hosanna’ around Jesus (Matt.
21:9, 15; Mk. 11:9; Jn. 12:13). Even after 2000 years, ‘save now’
or ‘save us, we pray,’ stands as a watch word that embodies
the truth and guides us to action and face challenges while
upholding the biblical values and ethos at the same time.
With all its potentialities, ‘Hosanna’ stands for a new campaign
to reimage the people’s grassroots conditions. The cry not only
demonstrates Jesus’ nature but also his extraordinary humility.
The cry calls for change and recovery of people.
The events of passion week are multifaceted. This
particular event is par excellence as a fulfillment of prophecy

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Lenten Meditations Re - Imaging People