Hosanna
Tiffany Ann Lewis 

Why is it that at the most wonderful time of the year with the kid’s jingle-belling and everyone telling you be of good cheer that millions of people are suffering with the holiday blues?  Is the Grinch really stealing Christmas?

The holidays can be a time full of joy, cheer, parties and family gatherings.  But for many, while decking their halls with red and green, deep inside they are blue.  The hap-happiest season of all becomes a time of loneliness, self-evaluation, regret, anxiety, and fear.  We combat these feelings by putting on a happy face and suffer in silence while looking for love and comfort in
all the wrong places like food, alcohol, over-spending or over-planning.  We keep pushing through looking forward to Jan 1^st when it will all be over.  

O’ God, save us now!!!

(Matt. 21:9)  These are the words that greeted Jesus Christ as He made His Triumphal entry into Jerusalem just days before He was crucified.   It is not a typical Christmas theme, however, I think it’s perfect.  “Hosanna” is a Hebrew term that is best translated as a prayer - “Save, we beseech Thee” or “Save now.”  The quote comes from Psalm 118:25-26
and means: save, save now, to be saved, delivered, or liberated.  It was more than a cry of enthusiastic public approval; it was a plea from an oppressed people to their Savior for deliverance.  Do you see why it fits at Christmas time with the holiday blues? 

When Jesus arrived here on earth, Israel, the apple of God’s eye, was suffering incredible oppression and/or depression.  Jerusalem had fallen into the hands of the Babylonians and was now in 400+ years of prophetic silence where it seemed as if the heavens were brass.  Perhaps you can identify. 

Enter in Simeon and his encounter with “the Consolation of Israel.” (Luke 2:25)  Let’s go to the bible and read Luke 2:25-32; for the sake of space I am not going to write it out here.  Simeon was a devout Jewish man who lived in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ birth.  He was seeking the fulfillment of the messianic prophecy that promised Israel would be restored.  The Holy Spirit told Simeon that he would not die until he laid his eyes on the Lord’s Christ, the Consolation of Israel. I want to draw attention to the capitalization on the word consolation found in the New King James version of the bible.  Consolation is a noun and means: comfort, solace, relief, encourage, refresh.  Consolation is a person, not a place or a thing; it is an individual who is a source of comfort to somebody that is upset or disappointed.  Beloved, authentic comfort can be found in the arms of Jesus Christ, “the Consoler, the Comforter.” 

Simeon was looking for consolation in the midst of his oppression.  When we look for Jesus, He will be found.  Prompted by the Holy Spirit, Simeon went to the temple at the exact time that Mary and Joseph were bringing Baby Jesus there to be dedicated to the Lord.  When Simeon sees them, he scoops Jesus up in his arms and blesses God.  I have read this hundreds of times before, yet today the Spirit drew my attention to Jesus’ age.  He was 40 days old.  Mary and Joseph were there to do for Jesus “according to the custom of the law.” (vs. 27)  The law required a male child to be presented in the temple 40 days after his birth. (see Lev. 12) 

A 40-something time period whether days, months, or years is always a period of testing, trial, probation, or chastisement (but not judgment) and ends with a period of restoration.  Let me repeat that…it ends with a period of restoration.  God designed the “40-something era” with a beginning and an ending.  It has a purpose and a promise.  God allows this season in order to bring about a beautiful thing, rejuvenation, regeneration, restoration, rebirth.  However, too often we get stuck in the space in between.  Can you imagine if Simeon had not allowed the Holy Spirit to lead him that day, if he was so down ‘n out that he just didn’t wanna get out of bed?  He would have missed his moment of destiny.  He would have missed embracing the only thing that would have penetrated the dark night of his soul, “the Light of the world.” (Jn. 8:12)

On that day in history, Simeon found the Light at the end of his tunnel, Jesus Christ.  Simeon declared that Jesus was “a light to lighten.” (vs. 32 KJV)  In biblical Greek the word he used for light is “phos” (Str. #5457).  The word has some remarkable meanings.  First and foremost it is anything emitting light like a lamp, a fire, or a torch.  Other things that are included in this word search are; heavenly lights - such as what surrounds angels when they appear on earth and, a star.  Remember the wise men followed “His star.” (Matt. 2:2)  Cool, huh?  The definition of the word on further saying that light reveals truth and knowledge, and enlightens the reasoning process of our minds thus bringing understanding, especially regarding moral and spiritual truth. Beloved, His Light brings the power to understand His Truth!  It is interesting to note that a beam of light will shine on for eternity just so long as there are no particles to refract it.  This is why we can see the light of a star even long after the star has ceased to exist.  As I studied out this word I was shocked to learn that it comes from an obsolete word, “phao.”   Considering that light is eternal isn’t it outrageous that the word phao is now obsolete!  Friends, do you see how the Grinch is trying to steal Christmas?  God sent Jesus at Christmastime because He loves you and He cares for you – He loves you and He cares for you.  Why?  Because He loves you and He cares for you!  Any lie the devil tosses at us that contradicts this foundational truth is a particle of dust attempting to refract His light and keep us in our dark despair.  Glory to God in the highest, it cannot be done for, “the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it, put it out or absorbed it…”  (Jn. 1:5 AMP)  His light shines through the darkness in order to lighten our path so we can walk on following His Star to find where our Consoler, our Comforter lays.

I want to close with Acts 16:20-26.  Paul and Silas were severely beaten and now find themselves sentenced and in a dungeon with shackles on their feet.  Talk about an impossibly dark circumstance!  They had a choice to make; either pray and worship God or lie down in their prison cell and give up knowing it will all be over soon.  They chose to pray and sing praise.  The word for praise here is humneo (Str. #5214) and means, to sing praise, to celebrate God, and to sing the paschal hymns.  Paschal hymns are what the Jewish people call the “great Hallel” and come from Psalms 113-118 and 136.  Beloved, here in this prison cell Paul and Silas sang our Hosanna.  With hope and faith in their hearts they prayed for help and celebrated God, yes celebrated Him in the midst of their circumstances.  You see, Hosanna is a prayer and a praise because it believes God is able to save, and it believes He is willing too.  The darkness they found themselves in could not overcome the ray of hope that Jesus ignited deep inside of them and “Suddenly there was a great earthquake…and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.” (vs. 26)  The Grinch doesn’t want us to embrace the light in our darkness because he knows our chains will come off.  So instead he tries to keep us looking at our situation instead of our Savior convincing us to just push through.  He steals the “Hosanna” off our lips telling us to just buck up and be strong keeping us from asking for the Saving Grace that Jesus came to earth to give us.  Beloved we don’t have to be strong and just push through till it’s over, He is here NOW.  God is the Great I Am, the God of right here and right NOW.  Hosanna, save us NOW from this dark gloom that is all around, let there be light! 

 Jesus says in Matt. 23:39 “For I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!”  I don’t know about you but I need to see Him NOW.  I need to experience His peace NOW – TODAY, I can’t afford to wait until tomorrow.  They took palm branches to greet Him, today let’s take our pine branches.  As we light our tree let us sing, “Blessed is He!”  As we deck-out our halls let’s shout, “Hosanna in the highest.”  Lord, save me NOW from my anxiety, save me NOW from my job stress, save me NOW from my depression, save me NOW from my oppression, save me NOW from my addiction, save me NOW from my affliction, save me NOW from my regrets, save me NOW from my fear…Lord, just save me NOW!

Lord, turn our eyes upon Jesus NOW.  Cause us to look full into His wonderful face.  We rejoice because we know that the cares of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of Your glory and grace.  Amen and Amen.