Hosanna in the Highest!

Today's reading: Mark 11:1-26

'And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!"' - Mark 11:9 ESV

To many of us, we have no idea about the rich Messianic language that is jammed into our reading for today.

First, we see that the riding of a colt would have been a hyperlink to Zechariah 9:9: "Your king is coming to you!" Second, we see the term Hosanna being shouted, which is a transliterated word that means, "Save us, Lord, we pray!" The crowd is essentially saying, "Jesus, live up to your name!" (His name means "The Lord saves"). Third, we hear the crowd singing a familiar song from their Hebrew hymn book (Psalm 118:26). Verses 19-29 of that Psalm are also soaked in Messianic language. Actually, verse 25 sounds a whole lot like the meaning of the term Hosanna. Fourth, any time we see the line of David mentioned, we also know it refers to the coming Christ.

What a way for Jesus to kick off what we call Holy Week today, his last week before his death and resurrection (spoiler alert).

These people who lined the streets with palm branches and their cloaks were desperate for a Messianic King to save them. Little did they know that Jesus wasn't going to save them the way that they wanted to be saved. He had something much bigger in mind.

Would you join me in crying out to Jesus for salvation today? Every day we live will require Jesus' saving grace, especially as we share his love with those around us.