Life on Hosanna Road John 12:12–19

 

Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom we cry hosanna!

 

We going to talk about Life on Hosanna Road; what that life was for Jesus, and what that life is for us.

 

If on your laptop or cell phone, you would pull up Google Maps, and type in Hosanna Road, you’d see Hosanna Road in Mankato, Minnesota.

 

And you’d see, Hosanna Way in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

 

And Hosanna Lane in Springfield, Oregon.

 

And you’d see Hosanna Court in Salem, Oregon.

 

And even a Hosanna Avenue in Elk City, Oklahoma.

 

My guess would be that a church is located on or near all those roads. 

 

So in a sense, they can all be traced back to what happened on, what we might call, Hosanna Road, the road Jesus took into Jerusalem, the Sunday before he died.

 

Our message is based on today’s Gospel, John’s account of Jesus’ triumphal entry. 

 

Jesus was at the height of His popularity. So much so that the Pharisees said, “Look! Now what are we going to do? The whole world has gone after Him.”

 

News of His miracles had spread. Some had seen them with their own eyes. 

 

Many hoped that He might be the Promised Messiah who would set them free at last.

 

But as Jesus’ popularity rose, so did His opposition. 

 

After He raised Lazarus, His enemies decided that the time had come for Jesus to die, and the scheming commenced. 

 

In a matter of days His popularity would quickly wane, and His opposition would rapidly rise.

 

Soon He would be carrying His cross to the place He would die; hard to imagine, considering how praised and celebrated He was just the Sunday before. 

 

John says, 12 The next day [the day after Mary poured perfume on Jesus’ feet] the great crowd that had come for the festival [many of the tens or even hundreds of thousands who were there for the Passover] heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 

 

13 They took palm branches, [as if greeting a conquering king] and went out to meet Him, shouting, “Hosanna”, save us, Lord; save us now. 

 

Don’t make us wait; be our king and lead us to freedom, starting today.

 

It had already started, but not in the way they thought.  

They shouted, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!”

 

He would become their king, but not the kind of king they were clamoring for, which Jesus hinted at by riding on a poor donkey.

 

John says, 14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: 15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” 

 

Jesus would become their king, but in a way they never imagined. 

 

As Jesus ascended Mount Zion, riding up to Jerusalem on Hosana Road, He was actually riding down into a deep valley, where he would answer the cries of Hosanna by dying to save us.

  

He rode into Jerusalem on Hosanna Road on a humble donkey, so that in pain and shame, He could walk to the cross; and on the cross, become the king, not of our politics, but of our salvation.

 

Rising from the tomb, He was glorified; ascending into Heaven, He was crowned as the King of all eternity.

 

Now our King calls us to walk the road He walked; to live and walk on Hosanna Road.

 

What does it mean to walk on Hosanna Road?

 

To live on Hosanna Road means having life at its best and to its fullest, as Jesus promises in John 10:10, life in Christ.

 

This means being in and with Christ, as we talked about last week in our Red Letter Challenge Bible study.

 

It means being in fellowship with Him, all day, every day; living in His friendship, and as a friend to Him.

 

It means being in a relationship of love and trust with Him; having faith that He is who He says He is, and does what he says He does; and that what He does changes our lives.

 

Living on Hosanna Road means being in a state of His grace, being and living free of eternal judgment, fully forgiven for all our sins.

 

It means being in His family, being His baptized child -- us belonging to Him and Him belonging to us as our Lord and Savior.

 

It means praying and talking to Him as a dear child to a dear Father; enjoying His presence, just wanting to be with Him, and spend time with Him and talk with Him, having a wonderful conversation.

 

It means having His Sacraments, and being in His Word; and His Word being in you, in your heart and mind, and in your spirit.  

 

Living on Hosanna Road means having our being, our life and existence in Christ.

 

And it means crying “Hosanna!”, not “Crucify!”. 

 

Last Wednesday as we looked at the testimony of Pontius Pilate, and we heard the crowd cry for Jesus to be crucified.

 

How is it that we might cry for Him to be crucified? 

 

First by rejecting Him, and the life He offers -- refusing to believe for whatever reason. 

 

There are a million and one reasons the closed and stubborn mind can conjure up to not believe and follow Christ. 

 

But they all ring hollow when compared to the way He loves us; when compared to all the wonderful reasons He gives us to believe; and when compared to the wonderful life He offers us.

 

We cry crucify when that cowardly thing in us called sin, and that coward we call Satan, and the cowardly culture, all collude, and tempt us to deny Christ and His ways; to care less about Him and more about anything else -- doesn’t matter what as long as it has nothing to do with God, and you care about it more than Him.

 

When we live by faith, and walk on Hosanna Road, everything has to do with Him. 

 

We cry “crucify” when we cave to the crowd; when we hide Christ in our lives. 

 

When we hide our faith, we cry “crucify”.

 

When we hate our neighbor and refuse to forgive, we cry “crucify”. 

 

When lust lures us to comply, and greed entices us to love money and possessions over God and our neighbor, then we loudly cry “crucify”.

 

But when we fall to the ground and repent of the fear that would keep us from  following Christ, and publicly claim Him as our God, then we cry “Hosanna!”.

When we repent of the lust and greed that would cause us to comply, then we cry “Hosanna”, save us, Lord.

 

When God’s mercy washes over us in Baptism, and cleanses us in Absolution, we cry “Hosanna”, the Lord has saved us.

 

When His body and blood, broken and poured out for us, feeds our heart and washes our spirit, we cry Hosanna, and we walk on Hosanna Road. 

 

We live on Hosanna Road as we know and celebrate Christ in His Church and in our homes.

 

And as we make Him known in our world, through our thoughts, and words, and deeds.

 

We live on Hosanna Road as we make sacrifices to love one another as Christ loves us, and sacrificed His life for us.

 

We cry Hosanna and honor Jesus when we help our neighbor in need.

 

We live on Hosanna Road as we forgive our enemy, our antagonist who has sinned against us, and made life hard for us.

 

We cry Hosanna when we cry “Hosanna” in song and worship and prayer: Hosanna in the highest, we cry!

 

Living on Hosanna Road means living and worshipping Christ in His Church, and in our daily lives -- wherever we are in this world, and whatever we do, making it our goal to bring honor and glory to Him.

 

So let us live and rejoice every day on Hosanna Road.

 

With boldness and mercy let us cry “Hosanna to Christ” in our lives and in our world. 

 

When we cave into sin and cry crucify, with a tearful heart let us cry Hosanna, “save me, Lord; forgive me”.

 

And with hearts that are beyond happy, that are at peace and filled with joy, let us just be with Christ, live and walk with Him in all we are and all we do.

 

And as we walk with Him on Hosanna Road, the peace of God that passes understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, which cry “Hosanna to Him on  High!” Amen.