A Layne Post
“Hoshana” (הושענא) is a Hebrew word meaning please save or save now.
It seems that “Hosanna” is a cry for salvation; while at the same time is a declaration of praise.
They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Matthew 21:7-9
Today I sat in a hospital looking into the eyes of a lonely thirteen year old, whose face and neck are being taken over by cancerous tumors. I rubbed her back as she cried in pain, no parent to comfort her, not even one in the same country.
Hosanna. Please save.
I glanced over and made silly faces at a little girl whose mouth is being deformed by a tumor, her teeth literally moving. After she fell asleep she was startled awake with difficulty breathing.
Hosanna. Save now.
Jon played a game with a eleven year old boy as his chemo treatment ran, who laughs to escape thinking of the friend/mentor who died three weeks ago. A boy who has lived fifteen months alone, bravely enduring treatment.
Hosanna. Please save.
Today a sixteen year old boy being taken over by fear asked Jon, “Do you think I’ll die here (in the hospital)?”
Hosanna. Save now.
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:55-56
Hosanna. Lord we praise you.