The
Christian term ‘Hosanna’ arises from the Hebrew term ‘Hoshana’ (‘please save’
or ‘save now’) and the Aramaic ‘Hothana’. It is the sound of the popular cry in
Mt. 21:9, Mk. 11:9-10 and John 12:13 (Luke does not record the term) and has
been regarded by some as the earliest hymn of Christian devotion.
Matthew
alone gives the earliest summary of the Messianic song on the entry of Jesus, that
is, ‘Praise to the son of David’ (Matt 21:9). The song was added to by Matthew
himself, and still further by Mark, and is said by all the evangelists to have
been uttered while Jesus was on the public way entering Jerusalem.
In
Psalm 118:25-27, the festal procession at which the word ‘Hosanna’ is
proclaimed (Psalm 118:25) is a witness to God’s kingship. It becomes in the
hands of the evangelists the acclamation of a multitude, either of
Jerusalemites, or of disciples (Luke 19:37), or of pilgrims who had come up for the
feast (John 12:12), who had learned that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead (John 12:17).
What
sort of leader did the crowd believe it was welcoming? The promised Messiah,
the king of Israel descended from David who would free Israel from tutelage to
the Romans? The evangelists realize, in the light of the crucifixion and
resurrection, that ‘Hosanna’ should be understood as a cry of jubilation at our
redemption through the person of Jesus Christ. As Derek Worlock and David
Sheppard remarked in With Christ in the Wilderness, there is reason to suppose that some of the crowd just a few
days latter called for Jesus’ blood, but on Palm Sunday the motivation of the
crowd in the passion narrative is less important to us than the symbolism of
Jesus’ entry. Fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 though he was, it was
his insistence that the tethered donkey and colt should be used, to demonstrate
to us the servant king he was and remains: self-effacing, unpretentious and
peace-loving, he was and is a king like no other. Thanks be to God!
