April 3, 2020
The Crowds Who Followed After
The crowds who followed after Jesus for the three years knew:
He made the blind to see, He made the lame to walk, He made the lepers clean,
He made the deaf to hear and the dead to live,
He fed the hungry and brought good wine to the rejoicing.
The crowds who followed after did not shout: “Praise ye The Lord!”
That would have been “Hallelujah!”
They did not recognize a conquering king and shout: “Lord, Have Mercy!”
That would have been “Kyrie Eleison!”
They shouted: “Save Us Now! Help Us! Rescue Us!”
“Hosanna!”
The crowds who followed after those three years were like The twelve who,
After the resurrection, asked: “Lord, will you now restore the kingdom to Israel?”
The crowds who followed after, like Abel’s blood and grave stones of the dead,
Cried out for vengeance,
And got forgiveness instead.
We, who follow after Jesus, shout “So Be It!” “Amen!”
We shout: “Kyrie Eleison! Hosanna! Hallelujah! Amen!”
“Rejoice in the Lord always… Let your gentleness be evident to all.
The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,
By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, Present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” April 3, 2020
A high school classmate shared his Palm Sunday sermon with me.
It made me remember what Hosanna means and helped me
better understand why the crowd could change from
Hosanna to Crucify in less than a week.
They thought they were welcoming a leader
to overthrow the Romans. When Christ did not do that,
they were willing to move on, no matter the price.
Here is how I distilled that in poetry.
Natalie Grace Hartwig
is a contributing writer for Journeys of Faith.
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