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 t was customary among the Jews to herald the approach of a king by spreading one's garments in the road. This act was one of submission to his lordship over their lives. This act of love and servitude illustrates their willingness to be placed under his complete authority,, even to the point of the king trampling over them. During Biblical times people realized that submission to an earthly king was a total submission to his lordship. The crowds, throwing their garments in the road, for Jesus to travel over, was a gesture of submission to the Kingly Messiah.
The crowds understood the somewhat recent deliverance of the Maccabeans and wished the same would happen by the Messiah. The people cried out, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" The shout of "Blessed Is He" is the cry of a people in bondage wanting to be saved. Translated, it means “help us,” a quote from Psalm 118:25. It is a cry of God’s people in desperate need. At the same time it was also a cry of thankfulness for the expected fulfillment of their requests. Hosanna was interpreted by Jewish rabbis in pre-Christian times as a Messianic message of hope for the future salvation by the sacrifice of the Messiah.
Hosanna, in the New Testament and thereafter, is understood as a cry for help and jubilation. It is a clear proclamation that the Messiah is here! He is in flesh and blood. Jesus is the fulfillment of the age-old hope of Israel whose prophets prophesied the coming of the Savior.
So important is “hosanna” in scripture and the history of the Christian church, that it is embedded in the weekly language and culture of the church in her worship. Then New Testament church confesses the presence of the blessed Messiah in body and blood, the real coming of forgiveness, in the Lord’s Supper. “Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Some claimed the crowds did not know who Jesus truly was and thought he was just a “prophet from Nazareth,” but still sang that He was Israel’s King. Unfortunately for them, four short days from Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, these same crowds cried out for His crucifixion. Jesus was the Passover Lamb of the ages. He was the perfect lamb, without spot or blemish. He was holy enough to "die for the sins of the nation and world."
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