This beautiful hymn expresses so wonderfully the glorious praise heaped upon Christ as He made His glorious entry into Jerusalem. Imagine all the people gathering in the streets, laying out their cloaks and palm branches and shouting Hosanna to the Son of David! as He fulfilled the scriptures by riding in on a donkey. This glorious event was a recognition of Christ as fulfillment of the prophecies and as the King, the Messiah.
What happened to change so quickly the people's hearts that they should go from praising and glorifying Him to calling for His death? For it was only a short time later that they shouted instead: Crucify Him! Crucify Him!
Is it not the same thing that happens in our own hearts? When all goes well and we see the brilliant path of God's plan, we praise and glorify Him, but as soon as we face trouble and discouragement or no longer feel a desire to serve Him we want nothing to do with Him.
Again and again we face this reality through our lives. We are uplifted on the waves of joy and delight in His consolations and then crushed beneath the weight of desolation.
As we come to know this pattern more deeply and to understand His love more fully, perhaps we shall be able to abandon ourselves more perfectly in both joys and sorrows. May He grant us that grace as we enter this Holy Week with Him!
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