Key Passage: Matthew 21: 9-13

Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!” And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?” So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.” Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.

Jesus, the Son of God was raised in a humble family in Nazareth in the province of Galilee. He had more of his ministry in that province and was widely known as a prophet and miracle worker. But in Jerusalem, which was the seat of religious and political power, little was known of Jesus, until the day of his triumphant entry. That ancient city was “moved” by the multitude who cried “Hosanna!” to a man who rode on a donkey.

“Hosanna” is a word that means, “Save now, I pray you!” which was a cry for help made by the Jews to their kings in times of trouble (2 Sam 14:4; 2 Kg 6:26; Ps 118:23). Over the years it became a cry made during the feast of Tabernacles, as the people danced round the altar in the Temple and cried for the coming of the King from the Lord to bring them deliverance and prosperity.

As Jesus entered Jerusalem in pomp, the political and religious powers were agitated by the acclamation of the multitude to a prophet who is unknown to them, but who is the Savior of the lost, the Healer of the sick, the Deliverer of the oppressed and the Helper of the helpless. He wept over Jerusalem because of the calamity that was to befall her for her atrocities and drove out those who had turned the Temple to a place of corruption, saying that the Temple must remain “a place of prayer”.

The religious authorities in Jerusalem conspired and arrested him. They falsely accused him and handed him over to the political authorities. They could not find any fault in him, yet they condemned, scourged and crucified him on the cross of Calvary. But his suffering and death became life, healing and victory for all those who would come to God through him. “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed” (1Pet 2:24). “Through death He … destroyed him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb 2:14). He rose again on the third day to make the victory he secured on the cross irreversible. This is Jesus, the man of Galilee!

Pray: Lord, I long for an encounter Jesus; help me to receive all the blessings and victories he paid so great a price to secure.

Written by – Evangelist Oguazi Onyemobi