hosanna to the Son of David!
“Yahweh has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.” — Psalm 103:19
Let’s just all be honest and admit that the regular course of our lives doesn’t respect that it says Holy Week begins tomorrow on the calendar. That this is a reminder that tomorrow morning in churches around the world the focus is on the Praise of him who has come, and is to come again.
Praise. To sing in joy over the reality of Jesus entering as King into Jerusalem to save the world.
But maybe your life doesn’t feel like it’s been hurtling toward praise in the morning, and instead, maybe it feels like it’s hurtling toward chaos, weariness, maybe even feeling like you’d like to just throw in the towel. Some variation of any of that. You feel the darkness in the world that has sought to choke out the light of the life of humanity.
And this is why Holy Week is so important, dear reader.
Because in these days we are reminded that the darkness does not win, and cannot choke out the light (John 1:5). The Light shines in the darkness. The King has come. He lived the kind of life that would make him able to purchase life for his people. The King was slain. And the King rose again.
And so, it’s time.
It’s time we don’t snooze the alarm at our bedside in the morning, or turn it off altogether, seeking slumber when we can praise.
It’s time to ready ourselves to gather with the people the King came and saved, and praise the One whose throne has been established in heaven, whose kingdom rules over all.
Hosanna to the Son of David!
Hosanna, to King Jesus!
Meditation
Reflect on these words about the passion of the Lord Jesus:
Praise him who comes, and is to come!
Hosanna to the Father's mighty Son, here and in the highest. Praise him who once humbled himself in love to save our human race. Praise him for his Father's boundless grace! Who would not stop to see and wonder at how low your love bent down? A donkey once carried you here on the earth. You, in your might and holiness!
And in your pity for us, you serve and bless our fallen race. This day is joy-filled for all creation. My glad soul will sing a song of praise, and wave branches of thanksgiving that were once just palm branches, thrown in front of you by children. Now we own your hidden majesty, and we cry with those children:
"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
And Amen.
Ephraim the Syrian
