They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!” John 12:13
This verse comes from the scene in the New Testament where Jesus is entering the city of Jerusalem at the time of the Passover feast. Ever since Peter’s statement, “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), Jesus had been talking about his death by explaining to his disciples that he must “go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (Matthew 16:21). This kind of discussion filled the disciples with grief. As Mark mentions, “the disciples did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it” (Mark 9:32).
His last public miracle happened in Bethany when Lazarus died. Jesus ordered the stone rolled away, then he prayed, then he told Lazarus to come out of the grave. To the astonishment of everyone present, Lazarus appeared before them alive. Resurrected.
John tells us that “when it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and as they stood in the temple courts, they asked one another, ‘What do you think? Isn’t he coming at all?’ But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him” (John 11:55-57).
And now Jesus has appeared. He is riding into Jerusalem not as a military hero on a war horse, but as a man of peace on a humble donkey.
The crowd’s question is answered. Jesus has come. His raising of Lazarus from the dead was widely known. The people from Bethany who had seen it happen told other visitors to the city. Pretty soon, Jesus’ notoriety grew, and a massive crowd goes out to meet him. The energy and excitement among the people that day was so powerful that the Pharisees complained. “Look how the whole world has gone after him!” (John 12:19). They are jealous. They are disheartened by their loss of authority, and they are failing in their efforts to arrest him.
But the crowd knew Jesus was worth going after. His teaching and his miracles proved he was the Messiah. And now, entering Jerusalem in this public way, he was acting as they had always wanted him to. They were looking for a king, a savior to come. The palms they waved were a symbol of victory. “Hosanna!” they shout. “Save, I pray!” is the approximate translation. They are praising him and asking for deliverance.
The apostle John, in this moment of insight, views Jesus as entering the city on a mission of salvation. It’s a royal, triumphant mission with Jesus, the messianic king, at the forefront receiving the homage he deserves.
For Jesus, this entrance into Jerusalem has another meaning entirely. He’s coming as the prince of peace. This arrival is about more than the events of the few days involving Passover. It was about the establishment of a whole kingdom. This kingdom institutes a different kind of power from that of worldly kings who flaunt their authority and lord over their subjects. Jesus’ kind of power is that of the servant.
He modeled it for the disciples during their last supper together. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:12).
The kingdom Jesus comes to establish has its beginnings in Jerusalem, known as the City of David. King David ruled there as royalty. God promised him that he would never cease to have a descendant on the throne. As we see from the genealogy in the book of Matthew, King David is an ancestor of Jesus. His throne was in a palace. His conquests were made on the battlefield. His renown was gained through political victories. At the time of his death, his body was buried.
During Holy Week, a new kind of king has come. His throne isn’t in a man-made palace, but in heaven. He entered the city in peace and made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-7). He is a king acquainted with grief, and a man of sorrows (Isaiah 53:3). His conquests are made in human hearts, freeing us from the bondage of sin. His strength doesn’t lie in the renown of political victories, but in love. John writes about love in a different place saying, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us,” and that “now we can love because he first loved us” (I John 3:16, 4:19).
At the time of his death, his body was buried in the tomb, but it didn’t stay there. In the words of Paul, “Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures. He was buried, and he was raised on the third day” (I Corinthians 15:3-4). “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption” (I Corinthians 1:30).
During this Easter season, may we together shout “Hosanna! Save, we pray, our hearts from unbelief and our lives from destruction.” May we turn to the servant king who gave up everything for us and suffered in our place. May we place our trust in his resurrection. His love is stronger than death, and his kingdom is forever.
