Mark Photos - 11:1-11 - Hosanna!
Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting,
“Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
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Yes, I am a day late on this, but its for good reason...you see, I knew that today would have two events that really captured what I heard in this passage when I read it yesterday morning. I started my day at the One New Humanity Conference here in Cincinnati focusing on multi-cultural congregations and then I closed my day with the gathering of the Presbytery of Cincinnati. My day today was bookended with worship - worship at the ONH conference and then worship with communion at the Presbytery meeting. In both gatherings, I heard a similar call that echoes what the crowds shouted to Jesus as he came into Jerusalem. The word Hosanna has an original meaning of "Save, now!" While it has shifted into a exclamation of praise, it cannot be said without the original meaning over it. In both of the gatherings today, we focused on the deep need that is there in our world for the working of God and the call that is upon us as believers to be the ones whose hands and feet and hearts and minds are put into this work. The sermon tonight at the presbytery worship service was especially powerful for me in this regard as we were led through the ways that the story of Moses and the burning bush parallels the ways that we do and don't encounter God today. We move on from so many significant needs in the world just as Moses had moved on into the wilderness. Yet God still reaches out to the world, continues to speak, and the bush continues to burn. And so we are called to step onto the holy ground and respond to the call. And so, we join with the call of the people in Jerusalem - Hosanna! Knowing that even as we shout, that God uses us to bring that saving about.