Hosanna in the highest!

 

 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; and He said to them, "Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat.  Loose it and bring it.  And if anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord has need of it,' and immediately he will send it here."  So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it.  But some of those who stood there said to them, "What are you doing, loosing the colt?"  And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded.  So they let them go.  Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it.  And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

"Hosanna!

'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'

Blessed is the kingdom of our father David 

That comes in the name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the highest!"

And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple.  So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.

 

- Mark 11:1-11 

 

On Saturday, we read that Jesus and the disciples came to Jericho.  As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.  And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"  So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.  Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer.  Rise, He is calling you."  And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.  So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight."  Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well."  And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.   

 

Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; and He said to them, "Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat.  Loose it and bring it.  And if anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord has need of it,' and immediately he will send it here."  So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it.  But some of those who stood there said to them, "What are you doing, loosing the colt?"  And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded.  So they let them go.  Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it.  The events in today's reading mark the day we commemorate as Palm Sunday, one week before Easter, and beginning the final week of Christ's earthly life.  My study Bible explains that by Christ's time, Jewish nationalism had led to the expectation of a political Messiah to deliver them from Roman control and to reestablish David's kingdom.  But, in humility, Jesus shows here that He has not come to establish an earthly kingdom.  Note the careful preparations so that Jesus rides, not on a horse nor in a chariot, but on a donkey.  This is a sign of humility and peace (Zechariah 9:9), as my study Bible notes.  It adds that this entrance into the Holy City declares the establishment of the Kingdom of God.  It is also a promise of Christ's final entrance into the heavenly Jerusalem with all believers and of His accepting the New Jerusalem as His pure Bride.  

 

 And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road.   My study Bible comments that the people who spread their clothes before Jesus do so as paying reverence to a King.  There is a spiritual interpretation to this gesture, also:  that we have need to lay down our flesh, even our lives, for Christ.  The leafy branches signify this event as Palm Sunday.

Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:  "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!"   The people's cry comes from Psalm 118:25-26.  These verses were associated with messianic expectation.  During the Feast of Tabernacles (or the Feast of the Coming Kingdom), they were recited daily for six days, and seven times on the seventh day.  Hosanna means, "Save, we pray!"

 

And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple.  So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.  As befits the One who is Messiah, the first thing Christ did upon entering the Holy City, the Bride Jerusalem, was to go into the temple, and He looked around at all things.  

 

In a certain sense, there are two parallel realities happening in today's reading.  The first is the Incarnate Jesus, the God-Man, (or as He often refers to Himself, the Son of Man), who comes finally into Jerusalem in this last week of His earthly life.  He has evaded the religious leaders after having various skirmishes with them throughout the second half of His ministry in the Gospel, at times going into Gentile territory, at other times passing through Galilee but not wanting anyone to know He was there.  But this entry into Jerusalem marks the time for direct confrontation, and His "hour" that is to come soon (John 2:4; 12:27).  In this sense, He is the Incarnate Jesus walking toward the confrontation that will lead to His Passion and Resurrection, marked by the Crucifixion to come after a few days and toward the end of the week that begins on this day, Palm Sunday.  But in the other sense, He is the Son of God fulfilling His mission as Son of Man, Incarnate as human being, but at the same time entering into the patterns upon which an infinite reality of God and final outcome of a universe hinge:  He is the Bridegroom going in to His Bride, the heavenly Jerusalem, and establishing the events in which we may also participate in both the worldly and mystical realities enacted and depicted in the Gospels.   The human Jesus goes into Jerusalem on a donkey, and is hailed as the Messiah, welcomed by the crowds who expected a worldly kind of Savior, a king who can liberate them from the Romans and all other foreign invading powers, empires, and armies.  The fully human Jesus will die a fully human death, neither becoming king in the earthly sense, nor will He fulfill the expectations of a "savior" who can permanently restore Israel's good fortunes and worldly power.  But the parallel reality of the Son is the one that happens through these very earthly events:  the completion of His mission as Incarnate human being, His ghastly death and suffering on the Cross, and the Resurrection, bringing all of human life with Him, including our suffering to be transfigured in the light of the Cross.   We step into the transcendent realities even of the heavenly Jerusalem to which He will ascend as He makes it possible for us through His life and mission, inviting us in through the Eucharist and the faith He teaches to us.  Let us see both His worldly life, and the fullness of His mission, for we are invited in to participate in both, and to be raised with Him.  For even as we live our lives in this world, He prepares the ground for our own experience of carrying our crosses and living in the image and teachings He gives us to fulfill our own places in His Kingdom.  As we prepare to enter into the Lenten and Easter cycle this year, let us consider our participation in the fullness of His life through our faith and worship, even the temporal and absolute realities into which we are invited by Christ.  Therefore, by the same token of the life of Christ, we also walk these realities through our own lives.  As human beings, we are soul and body, corporal and spiritual, temporal and eternal.  We make choices for our faith in this life, building values in the world which are not imply worldly but also eternal.  Let us consider the power in the life of Christ, and how that power might be at work also in ours.