Hosanna!

The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. John 12:12

The day after the dinner at Lazarus’ house with his close, personal friends, word started to circulate among the common people. Jesus’ reputation was being talked about in the countryside. He was gaining star status as His works were being told. Many had personally witnessed those works.

Jesus of Nazareth is coming! He’s coming into Jerusalem! He who turned water into fine wine, who fed thousands with a boy’s lunch; He who brought back life to a man who’d been dead four days! We will see Him! We can greet Him with praise. We can show Him our support. Surely such a man can overthrow Rome and be our king!

Their enthusiasm was entirely political. They had false expectations of this powerful man. They did not understand that His mission at this time was spiritual atonement for mankind, not national leadership.

So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out,“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”  And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

“Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
sitting on a donkey's colt!”

John 12:13-15 Hosanna! Is from the Hebrew and it means “oh, save!” or “save now!” The branches referred to the Messiah, prophesied in Isaiah 11:1, Zechariah 3:8 and Jeremiah 3:5-6:

 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

Their emphasis was on verse 5 (glorious king). Verse 6 (spiritual salvation and righteousness) was not their objective.

The people understood He came from God, and they were ready to inaugurate Him as king. Straight to the crown, bypassing the cross. This was not the correct order in God’s plan for His Son. They were chanting second advent doctrine, which anticipates the coming of Christ in glory to set up His millennial kingdom upon the earth. In that event, our Lord will be riding a powerful steed; a war-horse. Arriving as conqueror.  This mount was a submissive donkey, the symbol of humility.

John reports that he and the other disciples didn’t get the symbolism in the moment, but later they put it all together, remembering the messianic prophecies.

His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. John 12:16

The desire to make Jesus the political ruler of Israel was quickly gaining momentum. The Pharisees’ murderous hatred of Him was becoming more intense. They clearly needed to do something to stop this man’s rise. They couldn’t deny what the people had seen Jesus do.

The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.” John 12:17-19

Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. John 12:20-23

The Gentiles who had gathered to join the celebration were aroused to curiosity about this king the Jews were extolling. They wanted a closer look. Jesus didn’t accommodate them. He really was and is the legal heir to David’s throne. He really was and is Israel’s king. His “hour” had come. This was Israel’s time to acknowledge Him as Savior and receive their rightful inheritance as Abraham’s offspring. He would be glorified in the things which were about to occur. They would be left, mostly bewildered by their own misunderstanding of Who this man was and What He came to do.

To the Gentiles, though, Jesus gave an agricultural analogy which they would understand:

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24

The grain of wheat represents Jesus Christ. If He did not die, spiritually, for the human race, there could be no multiplication of the Spirit of God in humanity. As the grain must die to reproduce itself, God the Son must die to bring many sons to glory. This statement by Jesus made perfect sense to me, as a 20 year old on the brink of salvation, studying the Bible alone. This was where my spiritual eyes began to see the need for a sacrificed Savior. This was when I knew He HAD to die. Not because evil men were determined to murder Him, but because it was the plan of the Father to give eternal life to fallen mankind. The evil men simply facilitated the execution of the plan.

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

If one clings to the pleasures of the physical life (in this world), he can never know the eternal life Jesus offers. To prefer the eternal and spiritual over the physical and soulish guarantees the preservation of eternal life in the one who has believed in the Son of God. The awakened soul realizes there is much more to life than the physical, worldly existence into which we were physically born. The way to experience that abundant life is through faith in the giver of life, the Lord Jesus Christ.

To know and love Jesus, one must keep on following closely His teachings. The true servant of Christ will be found closely associated with Him at all times. Those who faithfully serve the Lord Jesus will be honored by the Father.

We’ll see in the following verses that the pressure was beginning to build on Jesus as He moved through these preliminary steps toward the cross. The time was growing short. There was much for Him to endure. 

He knew.