21 March 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!” John 12:13
Today Jesus enters Jerusalem, and the crowds go out to meet him with palm branches, shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!” Zechariah had foretold it: “Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey.” He comes as King, but not as the kings of this world: not on a war horse, but on a donkey, the animal of peace.
The Pharisees tell Jesus to silence his disciples. He answers: “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” All creation recognises its King. In our Malankara churches the palms are blessed and carried in procession, and we join the crowd of Jerusalem, and, as Revelation shows, the great multitude in heaven “robed in white, with palm branches in their hands”, crying: “Salvation belongs to our God… and to the Lamb!”
But we know where this road leads. The same city that shouts “Hosanna” will soon shout “Crucify him”. The King enters Jerusalem to be enthroned on the Cross. Genesis promised that “the scepter shall not depart from Judah”; the King from Judah reigns from the wood of the Cross. The ark of the covenant was brought into Jerusalem with joy and fear (2 Samuel 6); now the true Ark, God dwelling among us, enters the city.
Hosanna means “Save us, we pray.” It is a cry of praise and a cry for help. As Holy Week begins this evening, let us carry our palms home not as decorations but as a promise: Lord, I welcome you as my King; save me; and give me grace to follow you this week, through the Cross to the Resurrection.
Theme: “Hosanna to the humble King.”
Holy Week begins with palms and songs. Jesus enters Jerusalem as King, but on a donkey, and he weeps over the city. The same crowd that sings “Hosanna” will soon cry “Crucify”. Where do we stand?
“Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Zechariah 9:9
“So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!”” John 12:13
Apply: Keep your blessed palm in a place of honour at home, and welcome Christ as King of your family.
“Save us, we beseech you, O LORD! O LORD, we beseech you, give us success! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD.” Psalm 118:25–26
“As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!”” Luke 19:41–42
Apply: Take part in all the services of Holy Week: Pesaha, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter.
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and the obedience of the peoples is his.” Genesis 49:10
“There was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.” Revelation 7:9
Apply: Pray for persecuted Christians, who carry the palm of faithfulness today.
The King enters Jerusalem to give his life. His throne will be a Cross, his crown thorns, his victory the Resurrection.
Let us follow him this week, not as a fickle crowd but as faithful disciples.
Take-home resolution: Read the Passion narrative (John 18–19) with your family during Holy Week.
Dear brothers and sisters, today we carry palms like the crowds of Jerusalem. Jesus rides into the holy city, and the people go out to meet him shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!” The prophet Zechariah had said: your King comes to you, humble, riding on a donkey.
Notice how he comes. Not on a war horse, like a conqueror, but on a donkey, the animal of ordinary people and of peace. He is a King, but his throne will be a cross and his crown will be thorns. When the Pharisees want the crowd silenced, Jesus says: “If these were silent, the stones would shout out.” All creation knows its King.
But the same city that cries “Hosanna” today will cry “Crucify him” on Friday. How quickly hearts change. And our hearts too: we praise him on Sunday and forget him on Monday. Holy Week is the time to ask for faithful hearts, hearts that keep shouting Hosanna even at the foot of the Cross.
Hosanna means “Save us, we pray.” Let us take our palms home not as decorations but as a promise: Lord, you are my King; save me. Come to all the services of this Holy Week. Walk with Jesus from the upper room to Calvary, and on to the empty tomb. Hosanna in the highest! Amen.
Children, today we wave our palms like the children of Jerusalem! Jesus came riding on a little donkey, and everyone shouted: “Hosanna! Hosanna!”
Jesus is a King, but a gentle King of peace. This week we will remember how much he loved us: he gave his life on the cross, and then he rose again!
Take your palm home and put it near the cross. Let's shout together: “Hosanna to Jesus our King!”
Lord Jesus, humble King, you entered Jerusalem on a donkey to give your life for us. Hosanna: save us! As we carry our palms, give us faithful hearts that do not change from praise to rejection, and lead us through your Passion to the joy of your Resurrection. Amen.
Hosanna Sunday has more readings than any one study can hold, and they all circle one question: what kind of king is this? The evening Gospel (Luke 19:28–40) shows the disciples praising “the king who comes in the name of the Lord”, and the stones ready to shout if they fall silent. Genesis 49:8–15 gives Jacob's blessing of Judah, with the scepter and the donkey's colt bound to the vine. In 2 Samuel 6:1–7 the ark starts toward Jerusalem with joy and with fear. Proverbs 16:13–25 sets the wisdom of the lowly against the pride that “goes before destruction”. Revelation 7:9–12 shows the end of the procession: a multitude from every nation, “with palm branches in their hands”.
We study three more closely. Zechariah foretells a humble king who brings peace to the nations. Paul reminds believers from the nations that they have been grafted onto Israel's olive tree, and the root supports them. John tells how the crowd went out with palm branches, while the disciples did not yet understand. The key words are humble, root and Hosanna.
Setting.
Many scholars think chapters 9–14 of Zechariah come from a later hand than chapters 1–8, in the time after the exile, and the mention of Greece in verse 13 may point to the years of Greek power in the region. There is no king on David's throne, and the people live under foreign rule. The chapter opens with God's advance through the lands to the north and the coast (9:1–7), and today's reading begins with God camping at his house as a guard.
Into that setting comes a surprising figure: a king who arrives not in a war chariot but on a donkey.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey,” (9:9)
All four Gospels tell of the Lord's entry into Jerusalem, and Matthew and John quote this verse. Jesus chooses this sign himself. It is a claim to kingship and a correction of what people expected of a king.
“and he shall command peace to the nations;” (9:10)
Chariot, war-horse and bow are removed, and even from God's own people. His rule, “from sea to sea”, is not won by arms. The same reach is promised to the king in Psalm 72:8.
“because of the blood of my covenant with you,” (9:11)
The phrase recalls Moses at Sinai (Exodus 24:8). Christians hear in it what Jesus will say at the Supper this very week: “This is my blood of the covenant” (Mark 14:24).
“O prisoners of hope;” (9:12)
A striking phrase. They are captives, but what holds them is the hope that God will bring them home. It is a good description of the Christian in this world.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says of Palm Sunday that Jesus enters as the humble King whose kingdom is won by the Passover of his Death and Resurrection, and that this entry solemnly opens Holy Week (CCC 559–560). Verses 13–15 speak in the language of war, as much of the Old Testament does, and the Christian reads them in the light of verses 9–10. The victory of this king is the Cross, and his weapon is the blood of the covenant. St Justin Martyr already joins Jacob's blessing of Judah to the colt of the entry into Jerusalem (First Apology 32, in substance).
Setting.
Romans 9–11 is Paul's long reflection, with deep sorrow (9:2), on why many of his own people have not come to believe in Jesus. He will not allow anyone to conclude that God has rejected them: “By no means!” (11:1). At 11:13 he turns directly to believers of Gentile background, who may have started to think that they had taken Israel's place. This passage is his warning to them.
The olive tree is an image of Israel known from the prophets (Jeremiah 11:16; Hosea 14:6).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree,” (11:17)
The word is “some” of the branches. The tree is still there, and it is the same tree. Newcomers share in a life that is not theirs.
“it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you.” (11:18)
Every Christian should keep this sentence in mind when speaking about the Jewish people. All that we have received, from the Psalms to the Lord himself, comes from that root.
“So do not become proud, but stand in awe.” (11:20)
The warning is addressed to the Christian, not to Israel. The one who stands does so “through faith”, and therefore by God's gift, with no ground for boasting.
“for God has the power to graft them in again.” (11:23)
Paul ends the whole section by saying that “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (11:29). Israel's place in God's plan remains.
How the Church reads it.
The Second Vatican Council quotes this passage directly. The Church “draws sustenance from the root of that well-cultivated olive tree onto which have been grafted the wild shoot, the Gentiles” (Nostra Aetate 4). The Catechism speaks of the Church's unique link with the Jewish people and recalls Romans 11:29 (CCC 839). Reading this on Hosanna Sunday keeps us honest, for the week ahead has too often been told in Christian history with contempt for Jews. The Church rejects that. The King of Israel enters his city, and those who were far off are welcomed by his grace.
Setting.
It is the Passover season, and Jerusalem is full of pilgrims. Jesus has been at Bethany, where Mary anointed him (12:1–8), and word has spread about Lazarus, whom many came to see (12:9). The chief priests are by now planning his death (11:53). So John's account of the entry is short, and it has its own emphasis. In John, the crowd comes out to meet Jesus before he has found the donkey. He then sits on it, as if to give the crowd's acclamation its true meaning.
Only John says that the branches were from palm trees. Palms had been carried at the rededication of the Temple (2 Maccabees 10:7) and at Simon's victorious entry into the citadel (1 Maccabees 13:51), and many scholars think they had a strong national meaning.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him,” (12:13)
They go out as a city goes out to greet a ruler. The Church goes out with them today, palm in hand.
“Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it;” (12:14)
No war-horse, no procession prepared. His action quietly corrects what the palms might suggest. The kingdom will not be of this world (18:36).
“Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” (12:15)
John's short quotation joins Zechariah 9:9 with the opening “Do not be afraid”, a phrase that recalls Zephaniah 3:16, among other passages. A king who is no cause for fear: that is the good news of this procession.
“His disciples did not understand these things at first;” (12:16)
John is honest about this. It takes the Resurrection and the Spirit to read the Scriptures rightly (see 2:22; 14:26). Those who do not grasp all of this week's mysteries are in good company.
“Look, the world has gone after him!” (12:19)
The Pharisees say it in dismay, but John hears more in it. In the very next verse some Greeks come asking to see Jesus (12:20–21). The words are truer than the speakers know.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that the Church's liturgy solemnly opens Holy Week with this entry, and it links the crowd's shout with the Sanctus of the Eucharistic liturgy (CCC 559–560). The same word passes from the road outside Jerusalem into the holiest part of our prayer. Whoever says Hosanna today is asking the Lord to save, and is greeting him as the one who comes.
What does “Hosanna” mean?
It comes from the Hebrew of Psalm 118:25 and means “Save us, we beseech you”. By the time of Jesus it could also be a cry of praise and welcome, as in the phrase “Hosanna in the highest”. Both senses belong in our prayer. We sing it to the Lord who comes, and we ask him to save us.
Did this same crowd shout “Crucify him” a few days later?
The Gospels do not say so. It has become a common way of preaching, and it can be a useful warning about our own changeable hearts. It must never become a charge against the Jewish people. The Church teaches that the Passion cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews today (Nostra Aetate 4; CCC 597), and that sinners were “the authors and the ministers” of the Lord's sufferings (CCC 598). That means all of us.
Does Romans 11 say that the Church has taken the place of Israel?
No. Paul says the opposite to those who might think it. The root supports the branches, God's gifts and calling “are irrevocable” (11:29), and God has the power to graft in again. The Church confesses her own link to the Jewish people (Nostra Aetate 4; CCC 839). How God will bring his plan to its end is, as Paul says, a mystery (11:25, 33).
In our Malankara churches the palms are blessed and carried in procession, and the faithful bring flowers as well. We join the crowd of Jerusalem and the multitude of Revelation 7. This evening, Holy Week (Hasha) begins, with its special prayers and abstinence. So the day itself makes the turn from the shouting of the morning to the sorrow of the evening. In every Holy Qurbono the Church sings “Hosanna” in the anaphora, so the word we use on this road is not left behind when the palms have dried.