Hosanna, God Save

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I am Pastor Jae. I am the Pastor of Children, Youth, and Family here at The Table. Um, I am very unaccustomed to this front row being empty when I preach. 'cause usually my little group of, um, third through fifth graders are mighty. Our mighty class is sitting here, so it's a little bit empty for me, but I just want to take a, a breath.

For me, I, as I prepared for Palm Sunday, I was like, there's not very much Palm Sunday energy to be had right now, at least for me, as I was kind of reflecting on what's going on in our world and like, how do I get up and talk about, uh, praise as, as Jesus parades into Jerusalem.

And I thought, What a strange thing, also, that we have to liturgically bookend our week Sunday to Sunday with just joy. And that the only parts of, uh, holy Week that invite us into lament, uh, or any of those tough things we're sitting at with, uh, often churches kind of just glaze over and some churches don't do Good Friday. Some churches don't do, uh, Maundy Thursday, uh, we don't do Maundy Thursday, but some churches don't do, um, a lot of parts in between Sunday to Sunday that help us sit with some of the harder things.

And I thought to myself, the message of joy and parade can't be the only thing that's inside Palm Sunday. And so I really believe that our faith invites us to wrestle with the text. And so that's what I did. I, I sat down this week and day after day I kind of pored over the text and I, and I wrestled with it.

And I think I've found a message for us today that I'll, I'll share with, with you all and, and you can feel free to share back with me what you're feeling. I really think preaching is a dialogue. I don't think it's a monologue. Um, obviously it is literally a monologue, but I feel that the, the energy of it should be more of a dialogue. So I'd invite you to share with me what you're feeling this holy week as well.

Um, so let's jump into the texts, the texts that we can wrestle with together today. And, and I hope that as we move forward, this will feel faithful to you as to what the gospels are trying to tell us. When Jesus and his followers approached Jerusalem, they came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus gave two disciples a task saying to them, go into the village over there, and as soon as you enter it, you'll find tied up their a colt that no one has ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If no, if anyone says to you, why are you doing it? Say it's master needs it, and he will send it back. Right away they went and found a colt and tied, uh, found a colt tied to a gate outside on the street, and they untied it. Some people standing around said to them, what are you doing untying the colt? They told them just what Jesus said, and they left them alone. They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes upon it. And he sat on it. Many people spread out their clothes on the road while others spread branches cut from the fields and those in front of him. Those following were shouting Hosanna blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessings on the coming kingdom of our ancestor, David Hosanna and the highest. Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple after he looked around at everything, because it was already late in the evening, he returned to Bethany with the twelve. That’s Mark 11:1- 11.

So as I studied it, I thought about my liturgical training and I thought about how we are always supposed to teach people that hosanna means, uh, praise to God or thanks be to God. And Hosanna doesn't actually mean that. Has anyone in here been told that Hosanna or hosanna means praises to God or praises to God or blessings to God? Just raise your hand. I I would just love to see. Yeah, a lot of us. Hosanna doesn't mean that. And I think actually we lose something really, really important about Palm Sunday if we don't know what that word means.

Um, but before we get to that, I want to talk a little bit about this portion of Mark 11, though, uh, that actually references Psalm 118 and it says, Hosanna blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessings on the coming kingdom of our ancestor, David Hosanna in the highest. This actually isn't, uh, original to the people aren't shouting something original. They're not, um, they're not spontaneously praying out. This is actually a reference, uh, a reading of Psalm 118, which is a really common psalm to be read during pilgrimage as people would come into Jerusalem, uh, for high holy days. And so this is a tradition, this is part of what people already do, but it's in a new energy perhaps on this day.

Um, but I think that this text is what I wanted to zoom in closest on because I think it might be the thing that we sometimes the most misread about Palm Sunday. So I want to zoom in specifically on Hosanna, like I just said. So Hosanna comes from hoshana, which is the root word of it in Hebrew. Hosanna is the Greek, and Hashanah is the Hebrew. And the root word of Hashanah means save or help.

Originally this word in Psalm 118 was used as a plea to God. It was not used as a praise. It was used in the Psalms to shout out to God saying, “God, help us; God, save us; Hoshanah.” It was a cry for help from the people in whatever moment they were in. And many of the high holidays actually remember how God liberated people from their deepest need from enslavement, from violence. And so on the high holy days, people remember how, uh, God liberated. And so it's a remembrance of that time when they were in exile, when they were in these places screaming out Hashanah, God save us.

And so I wonder for us tonight, is there a possibility that as Jesus was riding a colt into Jerusalem, that people were crying out, God saved, that people were crying out in desperation, please save as the Roman empire was also parading into Jerusalem that day in order to strike fear into the hearts of people during their holidays.

Is it possible that people were not crying out about how great Jesus was? Jesus praised God praised, but it was a hosanna of heartbreak, of heartache. It was a hosanna that was calling on a real and urgent material need to be freed from the fear and the violence that the Roman Empire brought. Is it possible that this word, although it has now been changed into a word that means to praise God, that, and it was eventually used that way in the early church, but is it possible that that day as Jesus wrote into the city, he was hearing people cry out and not praise out? I think it is possible. That's, that's why I'm bringing it up.

I think, I think it is possible, and I think that that brings actually something really meaningful to us this Holy Week as maybe some of us feel inundated with the news cycles, with the, with the darkness that continues to reverberate, I think around the world. Is it possible that in Holy Week, uh, this week we know that people cried out God saved and that God saved doesn't just yearn for a purely spiritual salvation of our souls so that we can all go to heaven and we can all feel good in the end of days, but that ho hosanna and that the saving that we're asking for is urgent for now, for our material needs, for our tangible pain and the tangible pain of our neighbors.

Last week, Debbie talked about the Loaves and fishes story. And I think in the Loaves and Fishes story, what we hear from Jesus is that God does care about people's immediate material needs in their body, in their biological experience of this thing we call life. That it's not about this later on in the future, pie in the sky kind of salvation, but it is a bringing of God's kingdom here on earth. Now God save in our tangible needs.

Now, I think it sometimes becomes easy to make everything a spiritual metaphor and to just imagine that it's just about treating everyone really nicely so that your, and to, to praise God so much that your, your soul is saved and you will go to heaven. I think that is a, a simple faith, but I think that is a faith that sometimes discounts the real lived oppression being experienced by the vulnerable all over our earth right now, all over the world, right now on Palm Sunday, there are voices crying out, God save God help.

And so what if tonight, Hosanna isn't a celebration that we're all going to be saved next Sunday, but what if it is a word which helps us know how to cry out to God even amongst our heartbreak?

I'm going show you a picture, a picture that is evidently because of the flag, we can assume this is in Gaza and it is, but tonight, this picture could be from anywhere. Right now across the globe, there are people crying out, not a praise, but a plea like I just mentioned, not for salvation of their souls, but for their urgent physical needs. They have for food, for shelter, for safety, for a brief moment to breathe between bombings to hold their loved ones. It could be in Ukraine, it could be in Yemen, it could be Somalia, it could be Syria, it could be in Myanmar. It could be on almost every continent in our world.

Globally, people are trying to assert their supremacy, their dominance over other people that they have deemed are less of the image of God than them, less than, less than in a political way, less than in a spiritual way, less than in a, in a, in a physical just human embodied, way less than human. And civilians are at the crosshairs. And today I ask us to harness the power of an urgent Hosanna. God, help God save.

Uh, as Palestinian civilians are crying out, there are Palestinians voices that are bearing witness to the very existence of their people, to the very existence of their joy, to the very existence of their homes in case history attempts to erase those voices. I want to read this post by, uh, a boy named Joey Jayyab. Joe Jayyab, who is a teen. Uh, he's the one that you see there on the right. He is a Palestinian boy from Gaza, and he, uh, applied for this, this awesome program where basically, um, he would get to leave Gaza, which is almost impossible. And he would be granted this, uh, program opportunity where he could travel all over, uh, Israel and the West Bank and he would get to kind of blog and vlog about his experience, make videos, make content, share stories of all of the people who live there, Israelis and Palestinians alike, and that he would just get to witness to the world the beauty of this part of the world.

So I'm going read his post that he wrote, uh, at the beginning of the war. And this isn't to say anything about our politics, about this region. This isn't to say that I think that there is a specific political solution to the biggest geopolitical mess that I think many of us have witnessed through our lifetime. But this is just to say that there is a young Palestinian boy who wanted the world to know about his people and about his land, and that many people are crying out tonight, God save. So I'm going move aside so that you can see it. And I'm also going move aside so I can read from the screen. You can close your eyes, you can keep them open. I'm just going read his post that he wrote in case he didn't make it through the war.

He said, “My last journey on August 22nd, 2023, I swear I will never forget these memories.” Also, it's very hard for me to get through this, so might might take a minute.
I will not forget Ramallah and the kindness of its people.
I will not forget Bethlehem and the holiness of its places.
I will not forget Hiran and the generosity of its people.

I will not forget Jerusalem and your view of the lofty Kubba (Dome of the Rock).
I will not forget Nalu. It's Kafa and its old town.
I will not forget Jaffa. And its amazing evolution. 

I will not forget Haifa and the magic of its beauty.
I will not forget Akka and my jump from the lofty wall.
I will not forget crossing RAs Kora.
I will not forget the Golan heights and its nature.
I will not forget Negev and the desert.
I will not forget my beloved Gaza.
So he wrote this as a last goodbye in case he didn't make it through the war, and he is still alive. He recently posted that he and his family are fleeing from Gaza so that they can live. They're hoping to find refuge, um, in one of the nearby countries that is taking refugees from Gaza.

In Mark 11, I think it's easy to think, to say, to preach Jesus is on a joyful parade. A more appropriate word I think for some people might be hallelujah in a Christian context because Jesus will bring peace to all who believe and save us and all that stuff that we've heard our whole lives about what Holy Week is about.

But Jesus doesn't come for a false peace that ignores the cries of our neighbors. Jesus comes for a peace that is whole, that recognizes the innate imago day image of God in each and every single one of God's beloved children. Jesus doesn't come for that false peace. And Jesus knows that peace without liberation is not a sustainable peace. It is not a peace shown in the gospels of Christ.

These two images that I'm showing now are from the holy land. I took them when I, uh, had the, I think honestly honor of getting to visit, um, Israel and the West Bank. The more colorful image on the left is a wall that separates, uh, Israel and Gaza. Uh, the text all over the wall says peace. There's another part of the wall that says path to peace. It's beautiful. And all over the wall, there are small stones that say things like peace and love, all very, very important sentiments, but it is from only the Israeli side, one that does need peace.

One where thousands of people, I just talked to my friend who lives in Tel Aviv and I said, how is the situation? And she said, terrible. Every day, thousands and thousands of people in the street protesting Netanyahu because they want no violence, because they want the inherent dignity of their neighbors. So peace seems far off, but they want it so badly and needed.

But on the other side, this wall is from the Palestinian side. It is from not Gaza, but the West Bank. And all over this wall, there are images and words of liberation, of empowerment, of people of wanting to be freed from this wall that separates them from their neighbors. And although both of these walls were created very much with important intentions, one cannot exist without the other.

Jesus's message in Palm Sunday is that peace and liberation are not separate when he parades into Jerusalem. It is not a mistake he parades in at the same time as Pilate. The peace cannot come without the liberation of the people from the fear inside of Jerusalem. And so these images stand side by side, not to dismiss one another, but I think that these images of a wall that was built with a very specific intention that both of their intents when they come together, peace and liberation, are the only two things to bring a sustainable end to the need for a wall. Peace on one hand, liberation on the other.

It is what God came for. It is what God came down and flushed in a human body to experience the situation of our human lives. It is what Jesus' parade was for. It is what Joe Jay's work to share his land with the world was for. And although it seems aspirational or like, yeah, that seems great, like peace liberation, like that's, that all seems great, but it's, it seems so far off. It is aspirational. But we can't have hope without aspirations. We can't have hope without some kind of imagination for what else is possible. It's about moving us towards an imagined future where God's abundance really is for each and every single one of God's beloved children.

And so I want to, I want to say I think maybe this is controversial, maybe it's not, but I truly, I cannot think of anything more pressing for Palm Sunday for us Christians than bearing a witness to those who are living in fear. Just as those suffering under Roman rule were. So what if Palm Sunday and Holy Week isn't just about feeling good about how amazing Jesus's ministry was or how incredible Jesus' power is? What if it is also about remembering how much God hated oppression, war empire, false peace, and doing everything in our power to undermine that evil?

I can't honestly think of anything more in alignment with the story of Jesus than to hold urgency around intimately equating ourselves with the cries of the hurting, with the Hosanna that says God save to be in holy solidarity with those who are hurting, fearful, and those who have died.

In Mark 11, there is an urgency to Jesus's call to go get a colt. It's a a command. He's not very polite about it. It's not like, oh, you know, if you've got some time, could you maybe find me a colt? And if it's not a colt, that's fine. Find anything for me to ride on. There's an urgency. Jesus says, go get a colt. Bring it to me. There is an urgency. Like I imagine Jesus like rushing the disciples to do this. There is an urgency to get into Jerusalem, to undermine the Roman Empire at the very moment that he does.

Jesus wanted to ride in humbly not just to have a parade, but to oppose supremacy and a witness to the hurting and the afraid. Imagine him riding into Jerusalem, hearing people cry out. Hashanah God, save God help changes the, the, the idea of how Jesus might've felt, right? Instead of people just kind of sending up, celebratory treating him like a celebrity, but that he knows that he is riding to his death and he's hearing people beg him for help. I think that changes it a bit in my mind at least. So even though, uh, there is this heaviness, like I did mention, there is a hope in an aspirational moment of what the urgency Jesus brings is. And so I invite you to consider how you might be moved by the urgency of the cry of Hoshanah, of Hosanna God, hope.

So, I I retranslated a little bit of mark, uh, of this portion from Mark 11:9-10. Um, to read what I think more literally by kind of just the spirit of the text might mean, um, I translated blessings into brought by hope. 'cause blessing is ultimately an expression of hope. So I'm going read it to us and I want to see if it sits with you differently tonight. Um, or if you hear it any differently:

Save us now. Brought by hope was the one who comes in the name of the Lord, hopeful is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David. Oh, liberation from the highest.

Uh, please join me in prayer: God, on this Palm Sunday, we know that there is celebration to come. We know that this week will end with celebration, knowing that you do ultimately overcome the pain of this world, the harm, the violence, that in the Easter Sunday there is jubilation. But God, we tonight stand in an urgent witness to the hosanna God, save God help of our neighbors. Tonight we open our ears and our hearts to hear the ways in which all of our neighbors cry out. The ways in which Israelis cry out for peace, for an end to the violence, the ways in which those in Gaza cry out, God save for their safety, for their wellbeing, for their humanity. The way in which everybody engaged in violent conflict across the world cries out. We stand in solidarity and an urgency with that cry as you did as you rode into Jerusalem, to oppose fear and to oppose violence. We take seriously the call in our faith to understand deeply the ways that we might be able to engage in our corners of the world. We pray that you strengthen us in this holy week to continue in that urgent call. In your name we pray, Amen.