March 24, 2024 

Today’s Reading: John 12:12-19 

Daily Lectionary: Exodus 8:1-32, Psalm 118, Hebrews 1:1-14

So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” (John 12:13)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. It’s a strange thing to see a king riding triumphantly to His death, especially when He knows about it while no one else does.  The Pharisees want Him dead, that certainly is the truth, but they aren’t quite sure how to accomplish this yet.  There is still a lot of scheming and bribing that has to get done.  Whatever the case, Jesus will end up on that cross, one way or another.  But no matter how it may look, no one places Him there.  He goes willingly.

And so the crowds that once saw Him raise Lazarus from the grave follow Him with palm branches waving, shouting from the top of their voices, “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”  …  They are calling for salvation even if they don’t fully understand what it is they are asking, for that is what Hosanna means, “Save us.”  But whether they understand it or not, Jesus will save them.  It is going to look strange.  It is going to look weak.  It is going to look broken and bloody.  It is going to look like death.  But this King knows that it is only through His death that His servants will have life, so onward He goes.  He will not be denied His crossly-throne.

We join in this cry of victory, in this plea for salvation, uniting ourselves in song with that palm-branch-waving crowd.  We do this in the Service of the Sacrament in the words of the Sanctus.  Every single Lord’s Day, a new Palm Sunday all over again, as our King comes to us in simple and meager ways.  The only difference is that on that first Palm Sunday Jesus was riding to the cross, every Lord’s Day after He is riding from the cross in order to give to you what He won there.

“Hosanna!  Lord, save us!”  And He does, every single time, as He feeds us with His broken Body and Blood outpoured.  …  How fitting… with your tongue you cry out for salvation and with your lips you receive it! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty and everlasting God, You sent Your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take upon Himself our flesh and to suffer death upon the cross.  Mercifully grant that we may follow the example of His great humility and patience and be made partakers of His resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

-Pastor Eli Lietzau is pastor of Wheat Ridge Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

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