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Well, yesterday was Palm Sunday. It is the day we mark with Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. As Jesus rode on a young donkey, people put down palm branches for the donkey to walk over. The people cried, “Hosanna!”

Hosanna has come to be a word of praise, but it originally meant something along the lines of, “Help! Save!” or, “Save us, we pray!” or, “Lord, save us!”

This is exactly what Jesus came to do; He came to save. He came to die on the cross and rise again to save us.

But save us from what?

Jesus came to save us from ourselves and our sin. The answer seems so simple and easily spoken, but it goes much deeper than that.

God demands perfection because He is perfect. He cannot and will not tolerate sin of any kind. But He is also loving and merciful. God wants to be able to look at us to love us. In order to do that, our sin must be wiped away.

So that sounds simple enough. How do I go about wiping away my sin?

You don’t. Because you can’t.

You are not able. You literally lack the capacity and ability to wipe away any sin at all. You’re stuck. Your sin separates you from God.

Well then what good does it do for God to want to have anything to do with me?

It does plenty good. God possesses the power to wipe away your sin so that He can have a Father to child relationship with you.

But to wipe away sin requires payment. Since it is a big deal to sin, it requires a hefty payment. The only acceptable payment for sin is death. So someone had to sacrifice, and no one was good enough except for Jesus.

So Jesus volunteered.

Jesus came to die in our places, to take all of our sin on Himself and suffer His own Father’s wrath. Jesus came to save us from the impossible price of our sin and to give us a second chance.

Now, this does require action on your part. Jesus has done all of the work, all you have to do is accept it. You need to agree with God. You need to know and admit that you aren’t good enough. Until you know that, you won’t feel like you need any saving at all.

Before Easter rolls around, take a look into the life of Christ, particularly the Passion Week. You may find that you need to cry “Hosanna!” Maybe you already have cried.