The God Who Saves

A Reflection on the Gospel for Sunday, April 13th, 2025:
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

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Luke
​23.1-49​

​The elders of the people, the chief priests and scribes brought Jesus before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Christ, a king.”

Then Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered, “You say so.” Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for an accusation against this man.” But they were insistent and said, “He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place.” When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time.

When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see Jesus perform some sign. Herod questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer.

The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies.

Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. I will therefore have him flogged and release him.”

Now Pilate was obliged to release someone for them at the festival. Then they all shouted out together, “Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us.” (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.”

But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted. He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.

As they led Jesus away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the Cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.

A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with Jesus. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing.

And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, his chosen one!”

The soldiers also mocked Jesus, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

Having said this, he breathed his last.

When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.” And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts.

But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

This weekend is Palm Sunday. We call it that because, as part of the liturgy, we process with palm branches, singing the ancient refrain “Hosanna to the son of David, the King of Israel! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!” We put ourselves in the place of the people who proclaimed these words joyfully as Jesus entered Jerusalem in the days before the Passover. 

This joyful process is a bookend to the second reading from the Gospel we hear on Palm Sunday. From the heights of joy, we are drawn down into the deepest despair as we are called to recall the suffering and death of Jesus. If I didn’t know it was coming, I’m sure I’d get whiplash from the change in tone.

But those who know what “Hosanna” means perhaps wouldn’t be so surprised by this tone shift. Like other Hebrew words – “alleluia” and “amen” – it has entered into our worship vocabulary. We repeat these words, attaching meanings more or less based on content. “Alleluia” is praise for God, and “amen” is a word of agreement. But what of Hosanna?

Hosanna comes from the Hebrew phrase "hōshīʿāh-nā" (הוֹשִׁיעָה־נָּא), which essentially means “save us, we pray.” It is a phrasing attached to the praise and supplication directed to God for salvation. In Jewish tradition, the prayer of Hosanna was sung each morning during the Sukkot (the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles), and worshippers would march through the synagogue waving palms and other leafy branches. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The idea that the crowd would repeat this tradition and sing these words over Jesus as He arrived in Jerusalem is deeply meaningful – they were declaring their hope that He was the long-awaited Messiah. The scribes and Pharisees who witnessed this could not have ignored the connection between the practices of Sukkot being displayed for this man who had so troubled them.

The events that follow are shared in this section of the Gospel. Jesus is betrayed. He suffers. He dies on the cross.

Their Hosanna – their call for salvation – is tied up in the events of Holy Week. It is a cry we join in this weekend: God, save us. It is an acknowledgement not only of our need for salvation but also that we trust and put our hope in Jesus, the one who saves. Our Hosanna will lead to a great alleluia next Sunday.

But before our cries for salvation can be transformed into heartfelt thanksgiving and praise, we must first walk along the road of suffering with Jesus. We must face the cost of our salvation – the suffering, the torture, the mockery, the horrors of the cross. We do all of this while praying with the good thief that Jesus will remember us in His great work of salvation.

As we wave our branches this weekend, smiling as we process through our church, we join that ancient chorus that goes back beyond human memory. We cry out for our salvation. We do this knowing the price that was paid by Jesus. We do this knowing our weakness and frailty. We do this fully trusting that the promise made by God has been kept for us in this act of unfathomable love in Jesus. We sing our Hosanna, knowing that on Easter Sunday it will be transformed into an alleluia.




Stéphanie Potter​​

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