HE MAKES YOUR LIFE A HOSANNA AND A HOUSE OF PRAYER
Sermon Text, St. Mark 11:1-11, 15-19. Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; and He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it,’ and immediately he will send it here.” So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. But some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, loosing the colt?” And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it. And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve. … So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching. When evening had come, He went out of the city.
Lord, this is Your Word and these are Your words. Sanctify us by the truth. Your Word is truth. Dear Lord Jesus, as we again hear the hosannas of the children and the crowds, we thank and praise You that You have ordained this praise to come out of our mouths too. We became Your children in holy baptism and have sung Your praises ever since childhood. We pray that as You entered the temple in Jerusalem to cleanse it, You would keep coming to rule in the temple of our hearts for all our days. Amen.
Dear people loved by God in Christ: Grace, mercy, and peace be with you, in truth and love, from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
There are two scenes here. The first is Palm Sunday, and there are Hosannas being sung as Jesus sits meekly on the donkey; it is its own kind of joyful chaos. The second is the next day; there are no hosannas and Jesus is not meek and mild, but He quiets everything – the God-forsaken buying and selling in the temple courts – so that God and His teaching can be heard.
We don’t often look at them together like this. But they belong together – the hosannas being sung and the temple remade into a house of prayer.
It isn’t only about what happened then. We know that “Jesus entering Jerusalem” is part of a larger story. He enters Jerusalem to die. We hear a hint that this is coming, when in response to Jesus’ actions at the temple, “the scribes and chief priests sought how they might destroy Him.”
But the even larger story that this is part of, is you. We’ll learn today:
- He brings out your Hosanna, pleading to be forgiven and saved.
- He makes you His temple of praise, filled with His true teaching.
- He brings out your Hosanna.This is the word the people cried out: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Why this word, Hosanna? Why did they choose it? There was no choir director or priest in charge. In fact, the priests wanted to silence it. They didn’t want any Hosannas.
The fact that the people use this word shows that they knew Psalm 118. It’s a psalm that we know is a prophecy of Jesus’ resurrection – which reminds us, the end of this isn’t His death, it’s His victory over death! This psalm says: “The stone which the builders rejected” – that’s Jesus, whom the leaders were rejecting even now – “has become the Chief Cornerstone.” What the people knew is that this was a psalm about the Messiah. He would save them. They’re applying it to Jesus. It’s amazing that they do.
It feels like a word of praise, like you’re shouting for joy like those people. But actually, it isn’t. It doesn’t mean, “Praise the Lord!” or “Glory hallelujah!” It’s Hoshiah-nah, it comes from the same word as Jesus’ name, “Yehoshua,” or “Yeshua,” which means “He will save.” Hosanna means, “Save me, Lord, I implore You!” This is begging and pleading to be saved. The reason they shout this so exuberantly, is that they’re poor and miserable, oppressed and afflicted. “Hosanna!” is saying Jesus is the answer to their prayers.
This is what Jesus wants to bring out of you. But we don’t naturally do this. Who on earth wantsto say: “I am a poor, miserable sinner,” to beg and plead? Our natural inclination is: You want your achievements known. On the flip side, you want your faults and failures hidden, unknown or forgotten. This is really harmful when the faults and failures are our sins; and when the achievements we want to trumpet are our good works, and we try to balance out our sins with good deeds rather than repent.
That’s when we can develop false confidence in self. God doesn’t want you to do this! It endangers your salvation. Your sinful self says to hide and bury your sins, get defensive about them, excuse or redefine your sins. The world will gladly help you do this. You’re told to think it’s negative to bring up your sins; or that ignoring your sins is just being “positive.”
So it’s a great gift when the Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the Law, brings you to be honest about your sins. This is what “Hosanna!” is and what it says: “I am a poor, miserable sinner. Lord, save me!” We do this when we confess our sins to God, in church and in our prayers.
And what is His answer? “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” This is Jesus. He comes to save you. This is the Gospel – the greater gift! He comes in Word and Sacrament to save you – we sing these words (“Hosanna! Blessed is He …”) in the Lord’s Supper liturgy. Even now when He comes, it’s to bring salvation right to you, even into you.
What Mark adds is that they say: “Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord!” – In other words, this is strong. The whole kingdom comes with Him. It isn’t weak to beg and plead with Him as a poor, miserable sinner. He answers by giving you His kingdom, by grace alone. How blessed you are that He brings out your Hosanna!
- He makes you His temple of praise.This is about what happened the next day. It’s about what His gospel makes out of you.
First, on Palm Sunday after hearing the Hosannas, Jesus went into the temple, the court of the Gentiles, “looked around at all things,” then left. He saw the “money changers and those who sold doves.” All this noise made it so His Father’s voice couldn’t be heard. So the next day He comes back, and He so thoroughly undoes this that “He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple.” All the temple police could not resist Him. He quieted it, made it again “a house of prayer for all nations.”
It helps to know what Jesus did the day after Palm Sunday. He went into the temple. Why? Do we think His only goal was to cleanse that temple? No, He has another temple, “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” which is you yourself, “your body and your spirit” (1Co 6:19-20). What kind of temple are you for God to live in? Your sins make you unclean.
But especially it’s all noise, noise that blocks out God the Father, it blocks out His voice. One such voice is the voice of doubt, being uncertain that God’s Word is true or that God’s way is the only right one. Another voice is the voice of the world, luring you to be like them. Another voice is the voice of your sinful self, telling you to do what feels good. Loudest of all is the voice of your guilty conscience. A guilty conscience should lead you to confess your sinfulness; however, often it leads you to so magnify your sins that you think you’re unforgivable; it silences your hosanna.
But remember that Jesus, after looking around in the temple and seeing all the things going on there – just as He sees all the things going on in you – did not abandon it but went into the temple, and made everything quiet. This is a picture of how He will not abandon you either. But He will quiet all the noise, all the voices that drown out His. Then remember what He did: He just began teaching. Mark says, “He was teaching … all the people were astonished at His teaching.” He filled the temple with His teaching. That’s what it means to be a “house of prayer.”
This is the promise God is making to you: that through His Word He will fill you with His teaching, with Himself; that He’ll always be remaking you into a house of prayer, that what’s beautiful about you is what He puts into you, that He’ll quiet your guilty conscience, that He wants His voice to rule inside you. Then His voice will be what comes out of you, you’ll pray in His name, He’ll put a song in your heart and praise on your lips, so that
… We ever praise Him
With heart and life and voice
And in His blissful presence
Eternally rejoice!
Amen!