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And they brought the donkey to Jesus and threw their robes on it, and He sat on it. Many people spread their robes on the road, and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields. Then those who went before and those who followed kept shouting: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven! – Mark 11:7-10[1] HCSB

When Jesus approached Jerusalem, the scene was intense because He had arrived at Passover time. A crowd of Jewish religious pilgrims had already flooded the city. And into this throng rode Jesus on the back of a donkey, and with him, his own parade.

The text tells us that the crowd “began joyfully to praise God.” They lifted up shouts of “Hosanna!” which means, “Save!” They shouted, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.”

They waved leafy palm branches. Because they would bend in the wind and then snap back, these branches become one of the nationalistic symbols of Judea at that time. It was a way of saying “conquerors may come and conquerors may go, but we zealots are here to stay.” They were consistently used to celebrate military victories; so, the messianic hopes the people were expressing probably had militaristic overtones.

But the Old Testament prophet Zechariah predicted all these events.[2] This was to be the last spontaneous display of public approval of Jesus, and it was also to be the greatest.

But why did the crowd applaud? The text gives us some clues. Verse 37 says, they “praised God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen.” They had seen the crippled walk. They had witnessed the blind receiving sight. Even the dead were raised. Lazarus was proof! In a word, Jesus brought hope.

We need to praise the Lord for all the miracles He’s done in our lives. We need to gratefully acknowledge the hope He’s given us. To these people, Jesus was the hope of better days physically, economically and politically. And even though not all of these concepts were correctly understood, the principle was correct. He was their “Messiah” and thus deserving of their praise.

This leads us to another reason why the applause was deserved. As the crowd cheered, whether they knew it or not, they were witnessing God pass by.

We need to praise Him because He is GOD, not just for all the things He does for us. If God never saved us, if He never gave us answers as to how to live life well, if He never intervened miraculously in our lives, He would still be deserving of our praise for WHO HE IS.

In Jesus Christ, God was physically there in their town, though not everyone could see it. If Jesus is in your life, let others know it – applaud Him.

[1] Mark 11:1-11; Matthew 21:1-11; Luke 19:28-40; John 12:12-19

[2] Zechariah 9:9

"'Winging It" from Stan Smith

Inerrancy in History