Triumphant King

“Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?”

And Jesus said to them, ‘Yes. Have you never read,

“Our of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have perfected praise”?’”

(Matthew 21:14–17)

The scene is the Triumphal Entry. Jesus has, “lowly, and sitting on a donkey,” just ridden into the City of the Great King to the tune of these same loud and incessant HOSANNAs shouted by multitudes waving and tossing and strewing palm branches before Him. The city is in an uproar already. And now this.

Jesus is turning everything upside down—and not just the tables and chairs of those who sold sacrificial doves in the Temple. In complete defiance He is healing the lame and the blind within the Temple precinct. The priests are beside themselves. “Who brought this filth in here? What does this fellow mean by wrecking the entire Temple? Will someone get control of these children? Do You hear what they are saying?

Jesus’ reply rings with all the mocking laughter of a God who not only is in complete control of all that is going on but is almost mischievously so. “Yes.” “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. I hear quite well what these joyful little voices are singing. Don’t you priests recognize it also? What did you think Psalm 8 meant when it said the little children—the tiniest babies—would sing the perfect praise, in triumphant over the enemies of God?”

Indeed the very term hosanna is praise reserved for a Savior, a Deliverer. Yes—though it is shaking heaven and earth for them to do so, the children’s singing is just as it should be. The Eternal Christ of the Living God is high and lifted up, enthroned in His Temple, and absolutely nothing can turn back the tide of events now. At the end of this week, this same Jesus, still triumphant and more so, will fulfill the role of High Priest as He offers Himself up as a sacrifice for the sins of His people. Jesus—Jehovah saves. Hosanna—He alone is our Savior. In the death of this Prophet-Priest-King even death itself will be turned on its head, and the triumph will continue until all things are brought under His feet.

“Heavenly Father, we give You great thanks for our Savior and Lord, our Triumphant King, and for His salvation of us. Fill our mouths with His praises and our hearts with the joy of the winning side. Complete in us what Christ has begun, conform us to His image, convert us from blind and lame to the holy and incorruptibly faithful You have saved us to be, and bring in Your kingdom, we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.”