Selah Saturday
March 27, 2021
Hosanna (Praise is Rising)
By Paul Baloche and Brenton Brown
Hosanna, hosanna
You are the God Who saves us, worthy of all our praises
Hosanna, hosanna
Come have Your way among us
We welcome You here, Lord Jesus
In the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, we see a crowd of his followers lined up in the streets. They are praising Jesus and shouting, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9). We now recognize this day as Palm Sunday. Not too long after that joyous celebration we see another crowd. But this time, they are not so happy. This crowd despises Jesus and calls for his death on the day we call Good Friday.
Whether they were made up of the same people or not, the attitudes of those two crowds were completely different. One was filled with love for Jesus, the other with hate. Which crowd do you find yourself most often associated with?
We would like to think that we are part of the Palm Sunday crowd, right? We go to church every Sunday and sing our “Hosannas!” to Jesus. In the moment, we are genuine in our faith. We look forward to honoring our Savior and are excited to be in his presence.
But then we go home, and that passion fades away. We do not put effort into keeping up a relationship with God. We do not spend time in prayer or in his Word. We’ll listen to Christian music here and there to remind ourselves that God exists. But in the end, Satan gets the better of us and we give into our sinful nature as if to deny Jesus and say, “Crucify him!”
I am ashamed to say that I am guilty of this. As a music minister, I have the privilege of leading you all in worship, and it is a privilege that I do not take lightly. I love playing the piano for God and I love worshiping him with you. But more often than not, I go home and throughout the week I do not keep up my relationship with him like I should. The less time I spend with God, the more time I spend in sin. For that I ask forgiveness from God and from you as a congregation.
I want so very bad to always be associated with that “Palm Sunday crowd.” But every time I sin, I then associate myself with the “Good Friday crowd.”
You see, in a way we are the ones who crucified Jesus. Though we do not literally yell, “Crucify him!”, our sins are what led to his crucifixion. It was sinful humans that put Jesus on the cross, yet it was for sinful humans that he died.
But there is good news!
Jesus did not come to save just the “Palm Sunday crowd.” He also came to save the sinners who mocked him, who hated him, for those who sinned against God and against neighbor. He came to save us sinners of the “Good Friday crowd” so that in response we would always act like it was Palm Sunday.
So then, how can we have a Palm Sunday attitude every day?
The crowd that was there as Jesus came into Jerusalem was joyfully praising God for all the miracles they had seen (Luke 19:37), and that is what we should be doing. Jesus’s conquering over death and his resurrection is the greatest miracle there ever was, and he did all that to save our souls. Each day we must praise God and thank him for this grace that he has so freely given us. Even when we do mess up and sin, his grace is what gives us life and a reason to celebrate.
Our worship is our response to all that God does. It is our response to his power and majesty, and our response to Jesus’ saving work on the cross. I pray that you remember this as you worship to today’s song, “Hosanna.” And may you live every day with a Palm Sunday crowd attitude.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God,
be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
1 Timothy 1:15,17
