I

Every year around this time, we celebrate Palm Sunday: the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem.  This is the day that begins the holiest of holy weeks on the Christian calendar.  Ministers who preach on the subject often tackle two predominate themes:

• The first is the change that occurs with the crowd. Many of the people who waved palm branches and hailed Jesus as the King of kings shouting “Hosanna” would be shaking their fists yelling “Crucify!” by the end of the week.  The reason why relates to the second theme.
• People expected the Messiah to be like his ancestors King David: a warrior king who would lead a revolt to liberate the Jews from Roman oppression. Instead, they got Jesus: the Prince of Peace, the One who taught multitudes to forgive, to love their enemies, and to turn the other cheek.

These are the two themes that most preachers expound upon as they enter Holy Week.  Those who don’t often focus on the events that occur at the end of the week: the crucifixion.  They do this because their churches either do not offer Good Friday services or such services are poorly attended.  They don’t want to move from one celebratory event (Palm Sunday) to another one (the empty tomb) without pausing at the cross.

Let’s go in a different direction today.  Let’s look at the word used this day that we use every Communion Sunday: Hosanna.

II

Even though the New Testament was written in Greek, “Hosanna” is a Hebrew term.  The dictionary says that it is a word that expresses adoration, praise, or joy.  Synonyms for it range from the traditional “Alleluia” to the contemporary “Hooray!”  It is also related to the Aramaic word ‘ōsha‘nā, which means “save, rescue, and savior.”

How fitting an expression for Palm Sunday.  The Savior enters the holy city and the people are ecstatic: hooray and praise for the one who saves!  Why the donkey?  Well, when a king entered a city during a time of war and conquest, he would come mounted on a horse.  If it was a time of peace, however, he would come on a donkey.  “Hooray, for the Prince of peace has come to save!”  This is what the crowd saw, what they knew, and how they responded to it all.

This makes me think: what is it that makes us feel joyful — and what do we mean when we think about salvation?  Fitting questions as we enter holy week.

III

Let’s talk about being joyful first.  I went on Google this week and simply typed: “What makes us the happiest?”  Google offered me 65,800,000 pages.  I am still working my way through them, but here’s what I’ve found so far.

 

One site offers a top ten list — with a focus on the top three.  The site (called Joyful Days: Live Well Be Happy) lists what makes us happy and what we can do to increase our happiness.  Here’s the top three:

• The first is family and relationships. I think most of us could have guessed this one.  The site says, “The happiest people spend time with those they love including family, partners, or friends.”[1]  Being with those we love affirms that we are not going it alone.  We support those we love as they support us.
• Number two: meaningful work. We often think that people just want to make a lot of money.  While that is true, countless studies show that people in the business world are willing to take a pay cut if it ensures that they work for an ethical company.  Likewise, those outside the business world claim that they are happier working in vocations that make a difference — as opposed to those that make the most money.
• The third biggie is positive thinking. Is this glass half-empty or is it half-full?  The Mayo Clinic (among other health care providers) reminds us that positive thinking reduces stress.  But there is more to it than that.  Positive thinking leads to…
• An increased life span
• Lower rates of depression
• Lower levels of distress
• Greater resistance to the common cold
• Better psychological and physical well-being
• Better cardiovascular health and reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease
• Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress[2]

Quite a bit that makes us joyful.  But the real joy is knowing that Christ is with us: that he comes riding into our lives, just as he rode into Jerusalem at the beginning of the first holy week.  The Good News that he preached and the joy he embodied goes beyond compare.

IV

What about the salvation part of the word “Hosanna”?  The phrase to be saved suggests that one is in peril and is need of rescue.  You cannot save someone from drowning who isn’t in the water.  You cannot save someone from choking who is breathing just fine.

We look for salvation from a number of places — most of all we look to money.  Winning the lottery will save us from all our financial obligations, not to mention: it will save us from working.  Eating right and exercising may not save us from getting sick (there’s no predicting when ailments will strike), but it will increase our odds of living a healthier life.  Putting deadbolts on your door will lessen the chance that your house will be robbed and being aware of your surroundings will make you less likely to get mugged or attacked late at night.  We seek to be saved, to be liberated from many dangers.

Jesus saves us from something different altogether.  More conservative Christians claim that he saves us from an eternity in Hell.  But not all Christians believe in Hell.  If they are correct, if there is no Hell, then what are we being saved from through Jesus?  The Statement of Faith of our former denomination (the United Church of Christ) makes an interesting claim.  It says that through Jesus, God “saves us from aimlessness and sin.”  When I first read this, I thought it was silly.  The sin part I get, but we are also saved from walking around with our hands in our pockets with nothing to do?  Not quite.  Aimlessness in this context means a life without purpose — a life without meaning.

Jesus not only saved us from sin by offering us divine forgiveness, but he also saves us from aimlessness: he gives our life purpose.  As Christians, we are called to be part of Christ’s body on earth.  As the Church, the sum is worth more than the parts.  We are part of something bigger than ourselves.

 V

So let’s reimagine the crowd that day.  An oppressed people with little hope lined the parade route.  Their city has been under Roman siege.  The gates are thrown open and here comes Jesus: the Prince of peace.  He draws joy out of them (“Hosanna!”) because he is the one who offers salvation (Hosanna).  And that salvation is beyond anything that they could hope for in this life — beyond what any human being could grant them.  And the glory of it all is that Jesus offers us the same thing.

So wave your palm branches and shout “Hosanna!”  Your king has come.  New life is yours.  “Hosanna in the highest!”  Amen.

[1] joyfuldays.com/what-makes-people-happy-the-top-10-list

[2] mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/positive-thinking/art-20043950