Hosanna In The Highest

Speaker: Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines

April 13, 2025

in Spritual Growth

No Comments

688

April 13, 2025:
Readings: Isaiah 45: 21-25
Philippians 2:5-11
Luke 23:1-49
Palm Sunday 2025

The Gospel today is a story we all need to hear in order to know how Christ was able to go through what He did. He was carrying the load of the whole world and was going to the cross to save mankind.

Today we usher in Holy Week as we wave our palm leaves. But is Holy Week just one week? Israel did not recognize what God was offering to them when the opportunity came. The people were showing praises as He enters into the city. Christ had just raised Lazarus from the dead. This news spread throughout Jerusalem fast. He had done so many other good things to the people, healing them and delivering them from sickness. But if we look at Christianity today, we see too many religions. So many divisions, one criticizing the other.

Before Christ went to Jerusalem, He went to Gethsemane to pray. He knew what was going to happen soon. Being human, he was anxious as He prayed to God for the cup to pass away and yet He submitted to God’s will. He knew His mission and He was willing to pay the price to save mankind. He understood what He was going to face. In His agony, He sweat drops of blood. And God sent an angel to give Him strength.

When He faced Pilate and Herod, He knew what He was there for. He was not defensive when accusations were presented before Him. He took in whatever they were charging Him for. He went through these even if He knew He was innocent. Unfortunately, for many of us, we still tend to follow the ways of the world. Christ was mocked and beaten. But He was not intimidated. He stood in the strength of God. He never wavered. The people demanded that Barrabas, a known murderer, be released instead of Jesus. Here was God’s ultimate love for us being manifested in Christ. God gave us new life. Jesus, throughout the ordeal remained humble and was not intimidated. On the cross in Golgotha, known as the Place of the Skull, the first thing He said was, “Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do.”

Can we face trials and have the confidence that Christ will deliver us? When we have the grace and the mercy of God, we need not panic. Hosanna in the highest really means, “please help us, set us free.” It is a plea for salvation. A cry to God to deliver us. When the people pulled off the palm branches from the tree, they didn’t have time to decorate these. They were just as they were. God is our strength, our all in all. So we must remember that when we wave those palms, we should be saying, “God, help me. Help me to become the person that you want me to be, giving honor and glory to your name.”