"save Us Now!"

If you had been standing there in that first Palm Sunday crowd as Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey, what would you have heard? I would ask you to close your eyes to imagine it, but that’s kind of the kiss of death for a sermon, so keep your eyes open and imagine it. What would you have heard? If you were listening in the original languages spoken by the people of Jesus’ day, you would have heard something that sounded like “Jesus!” “Jesus!” “Jesus!” over and over again. It was not necessarily that the people were calling out the name that Jesus had been given by his parents. Instead, they were describing what they wanted Jesus to do for them. You see, the word “Jesus” sounds very similar to the word “Hosanna” in the original language of the Bible. Not only do the two words “Jesus” and “Hosanna” sound alike, they share the same root and have nearly identical meanings. They both mean, “save, deliver, rescue.” You might think back to the Christmas account and the angel who appeared to Joseph in a dream. The angel told Joseph what he was to name the child Mary was going to give birth to and the reason why. The angel said, “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Therefore, people’s shouts of “Hosanna” were certainly directed to the right person. Jesus’ sole purpose for coming into this world was to save, to rescue, to deliver people. But FROM WHAT were the people looking for Jesus to save them? They weren’t so much concerned about their sin. They were looking for Jesus to save them from the problems and hardships that they were experiencing.

The Jews were at best second-rate citizens in the Roman Empire. The power and prestige of the nation of Israel had long-since faded. They had no king, no real power or influence, no real place to call their own. At present, the Jews got along with the Roman only because they didn’t really have much of a choice but to get along. It had been a long, bloody history where Israel always seemed to come out on the losing end. The Jews looked forward to the day when things would be reversed, and Israel would once again resume what they believed to be its rightful position of power and prestige within the world, a time when life would be good.

Finally, they thought they had found the person to make all these dreams come true. They looked to Jesus and called out, “Jesus. Hosanna! Save us now!” They believed that Jesus could give them exactly what they were looking for, someone who would make their lives easier and more comfortable. After all, Jesus certainly seemed to possess the power they were looking for. Jesus’ reputation had grown throughout Israel during the last three years. He had demonstrated his power and his care in the miracles he performed, healing the sick and suffering, providing free food for thousands. And just recently, he had even raised a dead man named Lazarus back to life. Yes, they called to Jesus to “Hosanna! Save us! Save us from our problems! Rescue us from the ruthless Romans! Restore our nation! Make our lives better! Jesus, save us now!”

Sound familiar? In many people’s minds, that’s what religion is. Religion is about making God into the type of god that THEY want him to be. Developing a god that gives you what you want, that fits within the life that you want to live. It is a god that will fix your problems, and make you healthy, wealthy, successful, and popular. A god who save you from life’s problems. In reality, it’s not so much about who GOD actually is, but what YOU want god to be and to do for you.

Do we ever find ourselves slipping into that mindset when it comes to Jesus? Do we reduce Jesus to a savior whose primary purpose is to save us from the problems that we are right now experiencing in this life? Do we make Jesus into someone who is merely supposed to make our lives easier? “Jesus, save me from this difficult marriage. Jesus, save me from this mountain of debt. Jesus, save me from this sadness and loneliness. Jesus save me from this pain and suffering.” Can Jesus take those problems away? Absolutely he can. Can he and does he help us through those problems? Absolutely. But if that’s the ONLY type of Savior Jesus is, someone who fixes our problems in this life, then Jesus is the biggest fraud and phony that has ever lived. If Jesus ONLY came to save us from the problems that we are right now experiencing, then what has Jesus really accomplished? We get 70, 80, 90, 100 years of a comfortable life and then what happens? After a very comfortable life we would be lost eternally, separated from God and his blessings because Jesus had addressed the cause of all those problems.