Lent: 4/4/09
April 4, 2009
Exodus 10:21-11:8
2 Corinthians 4:13-18
Mark 10:46-52
“Have Mercy!”
When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’
- Mark 10:47-48
Tomorrow Christians all over the world will celebrate Palm Sunday (except Orthodox Christians who will celebrate it next week). We all know the story. Most of us have seen the reenactments of this triumphant entry into Jerusalem. But what will it mean for us when the word “Hosanna!” comes forth from our lips too? Will we just be playing a part in an extremely low budget production or will we be crying out to God anew. What will “Hosanna!” mean for us.
As a Boy Scout, I took a class on life saving and water safety. In order to practice being a “life guard” there has to be a “victim”. The situation has to be realistic and challenging, but not dangerous. One of the primary safeguards in the class was that the “victim” could never shout “Help!” Help was a word reserved for only real trouble, which was a possibility when you had real people treading water in a real lake. In the place of an authentic cry of distress we were taught to shout “peanut butter”, a nonsense word in that situation that said, “I am just playing the role of victim and not in any real trouble.”
Has Hosanna become a peanut butter word for Palm Sunday? Most of us do not know that Hosanna is a cry for deliverance. Would we be willing to cry out “Lord Save Us!” during a worship service in our churches? Probably not, we want to make sure that everybody knows that we are just playing a part in the drama, and that we ourselves are in no need of salvation ourselves. We are the ones who have been trained to shout, “Hosanna!” “Peanut butter!” and never, “Help!” or “Have Mercy!”
But what if this year were different. What if instead of just reenacting Palm Sunday, we chose to live it. What if instead of playing the role of the crowds that welcomed Jesus, we became the congregations that urgently cried out for deliverance and celebrated the arrival of our savior into our midst. That would be a different thing altogether. Maybe if we could learn to shout “Hosanna!” and mean it, we would also experience the presence of our Messiah in that moment. Maybe if we could stop playing a role and claim the words of Palm Sunday may be we to would be saved!
Let us Pray…
Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!
Son of David, have mercy on me!
Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven! Amen.