Desperate Joy! Matthew 21:9

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How can a desperate cry for help become a shout of praise? How can, “Help!!!” be shouted joyfully? When you are confident in the outcome!

In Matthew 21, the crowd following Jesus began to celebrate that Jesus was the long-awaited king. (While they misunderstood the true nature of Jesus’ coming—that he was there first to defeat sin and death through his own death on the cross—they certainly identified the right person, connected him to the right prophecies, and put their faith in the right direction!)

So the crowd shouted an Old Testament cry for help, the word Hosanna. They started with Psalm 118:25:

Save us, we pray, O LORD!

O LORD, we pray, give us success! (ESV)

And they applied that first phrase, “Save us,” which is Hosanna in Hebrew, to Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey:

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna [save-us!] to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9 ESV)

They knew they needed help—unique, one-of-a-kind help—and they knew their help had come. It had come in the person of Jesus. Jesus would save them, so hosanna (save us!) specifically to him!

And how much more can we know this, that Jesus has come to save us? You can put your hope entirely and uniquely in him to save you, and then you can count on him for a lifetime.

It’s never wrong to cry out, “God, save me! God, help me!” It’s never wrong to cry out Hosanna! And it’s never wrong to fill up that desperate plea with expectant joy, knowing that God loves you, that he gave his Son for you, and that he will certainly give you the hope, strength, and wisdom to endure, to thrive in hard times, to flourish in faith, through Jesus Christ the Lord!