Hosanna!

⁸ And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ 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!” – Matthew 21:8-9

Hosanna is truly a unique word in the Bible.  A quick search reveals it is only used in Matthew, Mark, and John in reference to this event where Jesus comes into the city of Jerusalem prior to his torture and death on the cross.

Dictionary.com defines Hosanna as “an exclamation, an appeal to God for deliverance, used in praise of God or Christ”.  Meriam-Webster.com says it is from the Hebrew word hōshīʽāh-nnā meaning “pray, save (us)!”  Vines Expository Dictionary confirms this describing the meaning as “save, we pray”.  Vines continues to describe hosanna by saying “the word seems to have become an utterance of praise rather than of prayer, though originally, probably, a cry for help”. 

²⁵ Save now, I pray, O Lord;
   O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity.
²⁶ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
   We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. – Psalms 118:25-26

The text here in Psalms was traditionally a part of reading and response by the Jewish people during the Feast of Tabernacles and was accompanied by the waving of palm and willow branches.  Jesus took part in this Feast of Tabernacles and applied the traditional elements of water and light to His life and mission.  The last day of this feast was called “the great Hosanna”.  Or, the great “save, we pray”. 

I feel like Hosanna should become my battle cry.  Save, I Pray!!!  This is very much an accomplishment of exclamation combining praise, prayer, cry for help, and confidence in deliverance all in one word.  If there was ever something that should be on the edge of all my words, every single day, it is this: Hosanna Jesus!  Or should it be: Jesus Hosanna!

Either way, it embodies what should be my very existence.