Walking Where Jesus Walked - Part Four

We entered into the busy streets of Jerusalem, riding our bus and listening to the music of "The Holy City" (a traditional song that is usually offered when pilgrims enter Jerusalem).  After days of scaling steps of unearthed settlements and cities, walking along pathways where Jesus and his disciples walked nearly two thousand years ago, and traveling from the northern most part of Israel to the southern part of the parameters of old Israel, we had arrived.  We are now in Jerusalem.

Our tour will take us to some key places in the next few days: Bethlehem, several locations in Jerusalem that tell its history, and of course, the entrance into the Holy City on Palm Sunday.  We being told that experience is going to be fantastic, with thousands of followers from all over the world joining the procession.  Each nationality and religion will have its own identity, their own songs of "Hosanna!" and they will bring large numbers to the joyful throng.  

"Hosanna!"  It is a joyful sounding word and it is meant to be exactly that.  The people were so excited and thrilled that Jesus was finally in Jerusalem and now, really great things were bound to happen.  So many stories of power, wisdom, and teaching that this could finally be that Messiah to come and save the people, which is really what the word "Hosanna!" means.  "Save us, please!  Save us!"  The key point in this Palm Sunday story about Jesus and his entry into Jerusalem is focused on salvation, but salvation from what?  

We all know the people expected Jesus to save them from the oppression of the Romans.  They wanted their freedom back.  They didn't want the Romans in their faces any longer.  It was time for them to head back to Rome and if anyone had the power to do that, it had to be Jesus.  

But of course, we also know that isn't why he came.  It wasn't to save the people from Roman oppression, but to save them from the oppression that sin creates in us.  He came to overcome something to be sure, but that something was related to each and every soul in that procession on that day and for every single person since then including today.  

He came to overcome death.  You see, the penalty for sins is death.  Jesus is the only one who had the power to overcome that penalty.  So it isn't salvation from Roman oppression.  It isn't reclaiming a sense of power or freedom from an outside country.  It is all about restoring a relationship that had been broken at the dawn of creation - restoring a right relationship with God - and it affects every one.  No one is exempt.

Palm Sunday in Jerusalem.  No doubt our tour group will be shouting our "Hosannas" to the King, waving our branches in the air.  For me (and perhaps for you) my shouts will be to save me from the oppression of my sins, because only God knows how much salvation I need - we all need - in that area.  Even as I write these words, I hear the sirens of emergency vehicles twice within the past hour, racing to help others in the holiest city in the world.  Everybody needs saving.

"Hosanna - save us, Lord, please save us!"