Hosanna In The Highest

Hosanna in The Highest

Matthew 21:1-17

 

The title of the message this morning is, “Hosanna in the Highest.” The word “Hosanna” is a word of Hebrew origin and the result of a combination of two words, yasha (“deliver, save”) and anna (“beg, now, please, beseech”) combine to form the word that, in English, is “hosanna,” “I beg you to save,” or “please save now.”

Hosanna is a word that is most often associated with Palm Sunday, because in all of the New Testament, “Hosanna” is only recorded in the scenes surrounding Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on the Sunday of His final week on earth before His death, burial, and resurrection.  It is shouted out to Jesus by crowds of people who were on the road headed into Jerusalem that day.

Jesus was headed into the city with large crowds on the road leading into Jerusalem. They were all headed there for the Passover celebration. This was a celebration of the day God saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. God had told the Israelites to sacrifice a spotless lamb in that day and mark the top and sides of their doorframes with the blood of the lamb. This would ensure that their household would be spared from death.

From history, we know that Jerusalem swelled for this celebration, we are told, to about five times its normal population. People would travel from all over the known world to Jerusalem for this celebration. Therefore, not only would the city of Jerusalem be packed, but the roads and paths to get there.

While headed in, the crowds begin crying out “Hosanna” to Jesus because He fulfills an Old Testament prophecy on that road by mounting atop the colt of donkey. In doing so, Jesus was letting the people know that He is the promised Messiah, the King of Israel, and the hope of the world. The people see this display, and they begin begging him to save, and to save right away. Jesus was headed into Jerusalem that week for the very purpose of saving.

So their shouts, their crying out for Jesus to save, was appropriate. But Jesus way to bring hosanna in the highest to them, was beyond what they were asking, or even thinking. What is striking is that by the end of the week, the shouts of the crowd for “hosanna,” for Jesus to “please save now,” will change to “crucify Him,” when their hopes for their preferred way of salvation at that time was not what He would immediately provide.

In Jesus’ day, the people were looking for a messianic deliverer, the predominant thought was that this deliverer would lead them in a revolt against Rome. Jesus was truly the One who would save, but He was not going to save them their way, and we find as the week goes on, they were not interested in being saved His way.

That said, the circumstances we see as Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem on the week leading up to His death, burial, and resurrection are important for us to see and apply to our lives.

 

Illus. Help!

 

Now, we know from the Scriptures that our Lord is able to do far beyond all we could ask or even think (Ephesians 3:20). But what do we do when He does? Or what do we do when He circles areas in our lives that we thought were “alright,” or what do we do when He goes deeper than we desired? I encourage you to remember what took place on Palm Sunday and allow Jesus to bring about “Hosanna in the Highest” to your life today.

Be Available to What Jesus Asks of You

 

Matthew 21:1-3, When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with it. Untie them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them on immediately.”

 

• As they approach Jerusalem and stop near the Mt. of Olives, Jesus sends two of His disciples into a nearby village to retrieve the colt of a donkey that He knows is tied there.

 

• It was a colt that no one had ever sat on or ridden (Mk 11:2; Lk 19:30). His two disciples were to untie it and bring it to Him.

 

• If anyone were to ask why they were taking the colt, they were to respond by saying, ‘the Lord has need of it,’ and that it would be sent back to them after Jesus used it.

 

Luke 19:33-34, And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They said, “The Lord has need of it.”

 

• Jesus’ disciples were willing to walk over to the village and start untying the donkey.

 

Mark 11:6, And they told them just as Jesus had said, and they gave them permission..

 

• The owners were willing to allow it for Jesus’ use…

 

• Hearing that the Lord needed their colt, the owners were willing to let Jesus’ disciples take the colt for His use.

 

• That the colt had never been ridden seems a gesture of respect and honor to offer such an animal to someone.

 

• I am struck by the phrase used when coming to the owner of the colt, the phrase used specifically is, “the Lord has need of it.”

 

• Why would the creator of all things have need of anything?

 

2 Corinthians 8:9, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.

 

• Are you willing to let Him break in the unbroken things you have, or use the unused things that you have been holding onto?

 

Illus. Borrowed things. 

 

Illus. Available?

 

Illus. Give it to the Lord.

 

Romans 11:36, For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever.

 

• He who made everything laid it all down that I might become rich in Him. But not only this, He chose to put Himself in a position whereby we could partner with Him, in order to see His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

 

• God didn’t have to make it work this way. But He has chosen to allow us the opportunity to be a part of His story.

Luke 12:48(b), “…From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more..”

 

• We would not be speaking of the items on the list of items Jesus “borrowed” had they not been offered to and used by Him.

 

• The borrowed colt in Matthew 21, would become a very famous colt. Why? Because as we see throughout Scripture regarding cities, towns, mangers, tombs, talents, and anything given to and used by the Lord, He returns them with interest. In other words, they become greater.

 

• Their young donkey became the most famous donkey the world has ever known all because they gave it Jesus on loan.

Zechariah 9:9, Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is righteous and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

• This colt of a donkey, would be remembered for generations to come…Spoken of 2,000 years later…why? Because Jesus had need of it and the people who had it, allowed Him to “borrow” it, for His good and His glory.

 

Matthew 16:25, For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. (NIV)

 

• We have hopes, dreams and expectations surrounding our lives. But our desire for God’s best in our lives will on be realized when we make available to Him the best in our lives.

Welcome Him Beyond What You Ask or Think

 

Matthew 21:8-9, Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!”

• After the disciples threw their cloaks on the back of the colt, Jesus sat on it (7).

 

• In taking His seat and heading to Jerusalem, He was offering Himself as King to the people. Something He had previously avoided.

John 6:15, So Jesus, aware that they intended to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself, alone.

 

• This time it was different.

 

• Jesus was now at the height of His ministry, and all wanted Him to ascend to His throne. They were heading to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover which commemorated God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery to Egypt.

 

• And it was at this time, in remembrance of deliverance that hopes for their own deliverance from Roman oppression ran high.

 

• They were looking for their leader, one who would lead them in victory and here was Jesus, they had found their guy, He was fulfilling Scripture, He was the Messiah.

 

• Some in the crowd laid down their coats and others placed palm branches on the road, it was their way of creating a “royal carpet.”

 

• Atop the colt He was elevated, now celebrated, and the people excitedly exalted Him. He was showing them who He was beyond the shadow of doubt, the crowd couldn’t help but to shout!

 

• Hosanna! Save now!! Save now in the highest, in the uttermost!

 

Psalm 118:22-26, A stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This came about from the Lord; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made; let’s rejoice and be glad in it. Please, O Lord, do save us; please, O Lord, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord

 

• This was a song the people would sing, set apart for the Messiah, and now, they are welcoming Jesus to Jerusalem, singing it about Him.

 

• They wanted Him to save them out of their situation, but not in the way He was planning to save.

 

• Many suggest this Scripture on a beautiful day, acknowledging that the Lord has made the day, and we have the opportunity to rejoice in it, but when it was written and sung, it was in light of the day God has made for salvation.

 

• When God made a way, when the rejected stone is shown as the chief cornerstone and when the One who comes in the name of the Lord, comes to save!

 

This is Jesus…They see it and shout it!

 

• They joyfully rolled out the welcome mat for Jesus to come into the city! Lord come and save, save us until there is nothing left to save! But their shout would change.

 

• They had the welcome mat out, they were crying out for Him to enter in, but when they began to see that His way to bring about hosanna in the highest, was different than the highest hosanna they had in mind, they don’t really want Him to go beyond the point of entry.

 

Ephesians 3:20-21, Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

 

Illus. Open the door.

 

III.   Ask for Eyes to See When Things Become Blurry

 

Matthew 21:10-12(a), When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds were saying, “This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.” And Jesus entered the temple area…

 

• From the book of Mark, we get an additional glimpse into the timeline and what took place upon Jesus’ arrival to Jerusalem.

 

• Mark says that Jesus went immediately into the temple, looked around at everything, and then went to Bethany which was just about 2 miles outside of Jerusalem and the place Jesus would stay for the night.

 

• Jesus entered into the city and looked around the temple in order to perform an inspection. I find it quite comforting where His attention was drawn. No doubt there was a lot wrong in their world and society, but Jesus made His priority the place that was set apart for the Lord, where He was supposed to have all authority.

 

• Jesus’ supreme issue was not Rome’s army, but God’s temple. He had not come as a military, economic, political, or social savior from injustice and oppression but as a spiritual Savior who came to save people from death and sin.

 

Matthew 21:12-13, And Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He said to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.”

 

• There were major problems in the temple, and the problem Jesus pointedly pursued was that they had turned it into a den or robbers.

 

Illus. What was taking place.

 

• Jesus saw it all, drove out those buying and selling, overturned the tables of money changers and the seats of those selling doves.

 

• After Jesus drove out what needed to be driven out, the temple became a place where Jesus was ministering. Jesus was healing those in need of healing, Matthew calls it a wonderful scene.

 

Matthew 21:14-17, And those who were blind and those who limped came to Him in the temple area, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant, and they said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘From the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?” And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

• The final scene is striking to me.

 

• Jesus is in the temple, he cleared out what needed to go.

 

• Jesus right then and there begins ministering, healing the blind and those who came to Him limping.

 

• There were children there who saw Jesus, and they are praising Him, the shouts of Hosanna they had heard the day before, were still on their lips, “Hosanna!” they were shouting.

 

• In verse 15, we read that the things the Lord was doing there were “wonderful things.”

 

• The word there is as it reads, Jesus was working “wonders,” He was doing “marvelous and wonderful things.”

 

• Though the scribes and chief priests saw the same wonderful things Jesus had done, they did not see things the same way.

 

• In the very same verse that we read about Jesus wonderful things Jesus had done, we read about those who were “indignant” when they saw the same things.

 

• They were “indignant” which is defined as sore displeasure.

 

• In this chapter, as the scene is set up, we have three different postures shown.

 

• The children are shown praising Jesus as He worked wonders beyond what any of them asked or could even think.

 

• The crowds were praising when they thought he might work according to their will, but they would lose sight of it all when the way forward became blurry.

 

• The scribes and chief priests were simply unwilling to see. They saw wonderful things but were unwilling to begin praising.

 

Illus. Couldn’t see it…

 

Matthew 20:29-33

 

John Haywood (1546), “There are none so blind as those who refuse to see.”

 

• In Matthew 13:13, Jesus spoke of those who though they could see with their eyes, they could not see, and though hearing, they did not understand.

 

• They could see and hear physically, but they were unwilling to and hear spiritually.

 

• In Ephesians 1:15-23, Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus, that the “eyes of their heart would be opened” so they would have wisdom, revelation, and know Him better.

 

• In the Bible, the “heart” refers to the control center of a person. Proverbs 4:23 tell us that everything we do flows from the heart.

 

• I pray this morning that you would ask the Lord to open the eyes of your heart, so that you could see the reality that the highest hosanna, is only way to be saved to uttermost, is to put your faith and trust in Jesus personally.

 

Acts 4:12, There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved.

Matthew 21:1-17