From the Pastor |
Today… all around the world… Christians are celebrating the day we refer to as Palm Sunday. It is the day that with processions… palm branches and hymns like “Hosanna, Loud Hosanna” we remember how this most Holy of Weeks began… with Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Riding on… of all things… a donkey… while the people gathered… waving palm branches and crying out, "Hosanna, Hosanna!"
It is a truly exciting time… I mean… we are joining with millions of our brothers and sisters in Christ… in churches all around the world… giving honor and praise to Christ Jesus. Next Sunday… we will once again gather… to celebrate the greatest, most important festival of the Christian year (yes… this one is bigger than even Christmas)! Only this time our praises will be with shouts of "Hallelujah" instead of "Hosanna". Oddly enough… there is a big difference. For between the cries of Hosanna and the shouts of Halleluiah… in between Palm Sunday and Easter… there is the Passion. During this one short week… we remember the journey of Christ… the journey that took Jesus from that triumphant entry into Jerusalem… all the way to the cross. What a difference a week can make! It is the events of this week that show us that we need the path from hosanna to hallelujah. We have to recognize that we cannot get from Hosanna to Hallelujah without all that occurred in between. In order to recognize that fact though… we need to really understand what these words we shout with such abandon really mean. Growing up, I remember Palm Sunday well. The Sunday School children would parade down the center aisle of the church… waving our palm branches shouting “hosanna” all the way. It was a fun and cute parade, but it made me believe that “Hosanna” was like a cheer… Like crying out “hip, hip, hooray.” In Hebrew "Hosanna" means ‘save, we pray’… ‘help, we pray.’ Throughout the generations it developed into a cry that showed they believed salvation had come. Think about that for a moment… instead of simply yelling out cheers and greetings, they were calling out “Save us we pray! … Salvation has come.” They did not really know who Jesus was… they knew Jesus was a Holy man sent by God… they had hope that it was this man who would be their salvation… their Messiah… the long awaited King who would break the hold of tyranny that Rome had on them. Hosanna indeed!! Hallelujah… on the other hand… means “Praise the Lord!” Where Hosanna is the cry for salvation… Hallelujah is the praise to God for the joy of salvation. Changes things a bit, doesn't it? How do we go from Palm Sunday which begins with a plea "Save us" to Easter where we "Praise God!" for being saved… all in one short week. We are only able to do so because of the events of those 7 days… of what Jesus said and did and suffered. We truly cannot get to hallelujah without those occurrences. At the entrance of Jerusalem… a crowd of people cried out for help… they wanted liberation from the oppression of the Roman Empire… they longed for freedom. They were looking for a savior… the Messiah who would save them then and there. But, it didn't happen the way they wanted. Because by Friday, the one they called upon to save them, was hanging on a cross. They could not yet see the truth like we now can. Jesus, the Messiah… came to save more than just that crowd gathered so long ago. He came to save us all… and he did not do so by raising an army… he did it by being betrayed, arrested, beaten, tortured and crucified. They did not yet know… as they were crying out for salvation… that true salvation was only possible because (as Paul writes to the Church in Philippi): “he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” [Philippians 2: 7b-8] It is the events that occur between the cries of ‘Hosanna’ and shouts of ‘Hallelujah’ that we begin to understand the greater picture of salvation. That’s where we are… we have circled around to another Holy Week in the midst of a global pandemic. Churches around the world are retelling the greatest story ever told… while still facing disease and death… on top of that we have social unrest, racism and violence all around us… However… amid the trials of this world, the message of Holy Week remains… pointing to another reality… pointing us to salvation. The story we remember during Holy begins with the cries for salvation… and then takes the path of suffering and sacrifice, with sorrow, grief, and despair… but through the love and grace of God… the story does not end there. On Easter, we are able to joyfully shout our praises to God because salvation has come… Jesus rose from the dead… conquering the grave… offering salvation from the powers of sin, and death… opening the gates of everlasting life to all who will believe. There really is no way to go from ‘Hosanna’ to ‘Hallelujah’ without the Passion… without the cross. So even as we cry out to God to “save us,”… to “help us, Lord”… as we look around at the depths of sorrow and suffering… we know that salvation has come. We can sing our Hallelujahs boldly… with conviction because we know all that Christ has done. Besides… the story is still not over! Amen
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Yeon Shin
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