Hosanna and Tears – Luke 19:28–44

(A Lament in the Key of Hallel)

It moves in slow motion—
this final week.
Like a breath held in the lungs of heaven.
Something vast is about to crack the sky.

Jesus rides.
Not on a war horse.
On a borrowed colt.
No sword at his side,
just a heart full of sorrow
and a soul set like flint.

He’s walked every other step.
Why the colt now?
Because this isn’t just a journey—
it’s a revelation.
Zechariah saw it
five and a half centuries before:
Behold, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey.

And the people—
oh, they lose their minds.
They lay coats down like royal carpets,
wave palm branches like banners of revolt.
They cry out from the Hallel psalms—
Save us! Hosanna!
Messiah!
King!
Finally!

But they’re thinking throne.
Jesus is thinking cross.

They’re dreaming revolution.
He’s offering redemption.

They want Caesar gone.
He wants sin undone.

And the priests—they panic.
The crowd is swelling.
Rome will not smile on this.
They fear Caesar
more than they trust God.
So they say:
Better one man die
than the whole nation perish.

And isn’t that just like us?
Choosing the wrong path
because we fear the wrong things.
We crown anxiety
and let peace pass us by.

Jesus sees the city.
Not just the skyline,
but its soul.
He weeps.
He weeps.

The Prince of Peace sobbing
at the gates of a city
that will not be gathered in.

Jerusalem—so close.
So tragically near.
But blind to the hour
when peace came
riding low
on a borrowed beast.

And in 70 AD,
just as he foresaw,
the stones fell.
The temple burned.
The walls broke.
And the people mourned
what could have been
if only they’d known
what made for peace.

Jesus is not indifferent.
He weeps over what fear destroys.
He weeps for all
who reject his reign
and crown their own chaos instead.

Because he cares.
Because he comes close.
Because his way is not domination
but deliverance.
Not panic,
but peace.

And peace—
real peace—
still rides in today.
Still asks to be recognised.
Still invites us to lay down
our makeshift crowns
and whisper,
Save us.
Rule us.
Lead us in the way of peace.

Original message by Sean Tan, The Bridge Church Macquarie Park NSW