The gravity of Jesus’ Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem – I don’t know if it is something that you may ever have had much consideration for. I mean, maybe more the “seeming contradiction” of Jesus’ Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem is more fitting. Let’s be honest, Jesus was about to be betrayed and denied by those closest to him, rejected by his own people, and ultimately put to death for nothing more than Loving, forgiving, and healing those that he encountered. Is Triumphant really the correct term here? Sure, he was well received on this day. I had one of my favorite times preparing last year’s Palm Sunday message on Hosanna (I guess I loved it more than pastor Steve though, because he cut me back from an hour last year to 10 minutes this year). Anyway, I learned about the term Hosanna and the depths of its meaning. Direct translation is “Save, we pray” and essentially in context of the Psalms where the term originates it means, “I pray, Eternal God, open me, free me, make me safe, I pray now, Eternal God, push me forward to break out into prayer!” Boom! So, it was a big deal that this term was bestowed upon Jesus on this day. However, it would become evident very soon that at the signs of adversity, this Jesus was anything but Triumphant to the people who had so recently welcomed him. We figuratively cry Hosanna to Jesus on Sunday, but do we continue to do so when he chooses to die – when he calls us to die? Jesus calls us to forgive our enemies and neighbors, to reserve our judgment, to Love. The world at times will interpret this as defeat. We must learn to see where Triumph truly is. Triumph is revealed in Love as Love is revealed in triumph.
Triumph
Triumph is
Well triumph is an act, it is also a feeling
It is the deafening voice you cannot contain, and so you turn to kneeling
And it’s the thought that is reeling, entombed within the feeling
And triumph is
Well triumph is a man, it is also a healing
It is the hand that overturns the table, it is your conscience stealing
And it is the stolen feeling, that is forgotten in the healing
Triumph is
The poor in spirit
The good news of the gospel and those chosen to hear it
Those who mourn
The fears and doubts, the lives scratched and torn
The blessed meek
The hungry and the thirsty, and those that seek
The merciful
The one despised and cursed for all
The pure in heart
The remembered sentiment of a fateful start
The peacemakers
The kind, the humble, the true earth shakers
You see, triumph is
A sword that divides, it’s double edged and it hides, it attacks, and it decides
And it is relentless, bathed in repentance
It cannot concede
Victory its definition, sin in remission
Again, triumph is
The one among the ninety-nine, the one that is pruned amidst the vine,
And outside time, the undercurrent of the rhyme
We find, that we are sought
Much more than that, we are bought
By triumph
It is the elation of a child, Hosanna!
It is the provision of heaven, the Manna
One and the same, and so He remains,
He seeks, He finds, and yes, He claims
Triumph
And triumph is
Well triumph is a command, and too it is an event
A Love given without demand, a Love born in consent
Consent to a journey with a cross to bear
Consent to a life that enters despair
In Triumph
It is light, it is good, it’s the fight that we would
Dare to be honest and open and true
Dare to believe something more than just “you”
Dare to be gentle
Dare to forgive
Past sentimental
Dare to just live
In triumph
You see triumph is Jesus
His teaching
His Love
Triumph is reaching
Down from above
With no discrimination, no prejudice, no trial
Triumph is reaching past your denial
Past your heartache
And past your doubt
Past your pain
Just let it out
Shout today
Shout out his name
Shout out in triumph
In Jesus proclaim
Hosanna
Open me, free me, help me break out
Eternal God, to You do I shout
Hosanna
It is triumph
