“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9).
Don’t you wonder what Jesus’ thoughts were as he rode in that Palm Sunday parade? He had no false dreams about where that ride was taking him. All the palm waving and hosanna shouting didn’t fill him with delusions of grandeur.
Earlier, on the way to the parade, he had told his disciples exactly what lay ahead of him. Not the keys to the city, but a cross outside it. But that cross would unlock the doors to the heavenly Jerusalem. With his crown of thorns and his throne of pain, he would pay for the world’s sin. From this Savior-King would come a victory such as the world has never seen and will always need.
Thank God I know the purpose of that Palm Sunday parade. Because of his grace I can hold my sin-stained heart up to this heavenly King and sob with the tax collector, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13). I can hold my flickering faith up to him and cry out with the nobleman, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).
Finally, I can hold my dying heart up to him and exclaim with David, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4). The more I see in this King, the One who came to die for my sins and prepare eternal life for me in heaven, the more I’ll shout my hosannas to him today, tomorrow, and in eternity.
Prayer:
Lord, show me your cross’ victory over sin
so that I shout hosanna all my days. Amen
From Together with Jesus: Daily Devotions for a Year, by Richard Lauersdorf. All rights reserved.
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