Hosanna Before Hallelujah

Palm Sunday is one of the most joyful moments in the Easter story—crowds cheering, palm branches waving, and people shouting Hosanna! But within just a few days, that same city would call for Jesus to be crucified.  In this episode, we step back and look at the history and symbolism behind Palm Sunday and why so many people misunderstood who Jesus really was. As we focus on the basics of the gospel, Palm Sunday reminds us that discipleship comes from developing our own testimony and choosing to follow Him with humble hearts. This episode is “Hosanna Before Hallelujah” and we are so glad you are here!

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Show Notes

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Transcript

Episode 157 - Hosanna Before Hallelujah

[00:00:00] 

Cydni: When I was studying about Jesus and preparing for Easter, I came across a very motivational. Quote that I do not know who said it, but whoever said it was inspired to talk to me. Honestly, it touched my heart. Not just for me though. Sher also for you, for us in this podcast. 

Sher: Oh, good. 

Cydni: I know. I need to be 

Sher: inspired. 

Cydni: And maybe take this and put music behind it so it's inspirational. We can listen to it every single day, whenever we doubt ourselves and whenever people are doubting themself, they could hear this quote. When God put a calling on your life, he already factored in your stupidity, and that's the most comforting thing I've ever heard. 

 welcome to the Cydni and Sher Podcast.

Sher: So Cydni, this month we wanted to learn more about the basics of Easter, including the people and the events leading up to Easter. And today we wanted to focus on Palm Sunday. This is the day that our Savior entered Jerusalem as our Lord and Savior. Cydni sent me an outline of what [00:01:00] she thought would be a good idea for this podcast, which I really loved but then I decided I wanted to talk about. The history or the background of it, so I may have added that in.

Cydni: Right. I look at it and I'm like, she changed the beginning and the end, and then there's one little paragraph that says, this is my podcast now. Get out of the basement that your mic's off. 

Sher: That's not what it says, but I did shrink her down a little bit, so don't worry. Just kidding. 

Cydni: I did read through your notes twice now because I genuinely love it. I did not know so much that you're going to share and I just thought it's so awesome to know about this and read about Palm Sunday and the gospels is really awesome to know the history.

Sher: I thought it was really cool too. 'cause honestly I didn't know hardly any of it. And so I genuinely wanted to know the background on like what was going on at the time. I mean, I knew a little bit, but this still is pretty surface level, but it's more than I knew before.

Cydni: But you know the gospels in [00:02:00] layers and sometimes you have to go through layer one and two before you can get to three. So today we are bringing you layer one. 

Sher: I think that's all we ever bring is layer one. So first of all, just a little bit of the background. Before the Romans took over Jerusalem, the Jewish people were being ruled by a king, and it was the Haz Manian dynasty. This family though. They started to become divided and corrupt, and it's going to lead to a civil war between two brothers. And this civil war started around 67 BC and both brothers claim that they should be the king and the high priest. I mean, you think they could have split the job, but No, they wanted both jobs.

Cydni: Maybe this is where six seven comes from. 

Sher: Oh, good grief. 

Cydni: Six, seven bc. 

Sher: Anyway, so both brothers. Secretly asked Rome to take their side and help 'em beat the other brother up. But Rome, of course, happily stepped in to [00:03:00] take advantage of the situation by taking over Jerusalem. By The year 63 bc, and this is how Israel was taken over by the Roman Empire.

And on a side note. This is usually how bad things happen. Civil wars start, and when the Civil War starts, somebody bad takes advantage of it and becomes a dictator, or takes control over the situation. It hardly ever works out so at first, local leaders could rule under Rome, but by the time of Christ, Roman governors were completely in charge.

And this is why Pontius Pilate was in charge at the time of Christ Crucifixion. So Rome did allow the Jews to practice their own religion, but there are some reasons that the Jews really, really, really disliked the Romans. And some of them were the Romans collected super heavy taxes.

For example. The Romans had a land tax. They had an income tax, they had a poll tax, which means there was a tax on [00:04:00] every living person, and they also had a customs tax. The Romans did hire Jewish tax collectors who had super bad reputations for not only collecting the Roman taxes, which everyone hated, but they often overcharge people so they could hustle a little bit of money for themselves on the side.

And this is a reason why Matthew. Was so disliked as he became an apostle to the Lord. These tax collectors had such a bad reputation in Jewish societies. They were considered traitors and collaborators with Rome, and they were grouped in with the sinners of society. They were loathed.

Also, not only were they allowed to practice their religion, but the Jews also had their own courts to handle many of the religious and a few civil matters, but Rome had the ultimate authority and decision making. Including executing someone. So the Jews were not allowed to execute people. It had to come from the Roman governor. [00:05:00] And this is why the Jewish leaders brought Christ to Pontius Pilate.

The Jewish leadership found it absolutely humiliating that they had to go through Rome to enforce laws. They did not like it. and another reason that they did not like. The Roman Empire there is because the Roman military was everywhere around Jerusalem.

They didn't like the occupiers on the street and in their city, they basically wanted them out of their face. Jews also didn't like the belief that the Roman emperor was God-like with divine authority.

They definitely believed that was sacrilegious and they did not feel the same way about the Roman Emperor. Also they did not like the Roman culture. They did not like what they saw as their evil plays and their evil entertainment. And they didn't like their pagan temples.

And they saw this as an evil influence in their country. To top it off, Romans were known for being really brutal. An horrible example of this is crucifying people. They did this [00:06:00] on purpose, hanging the people along the roads as a warning. Stay in line. And this was obviously something that the Jewish people did not like or appreciate.

Cydni: I told you I read this twice and I just cannot get over. This actually happening going home from the market and there is a person who is in suffering or has suffered and they're just there.

Sher: it's horrifying.

Cydni: It really is so scary to think about 'cause that's youth and children and little ones who can see it. And then like me, like a middle aged stay at home mom who's trying to get the cart to the school on time. Trying to find a diet coke, a wine, trying to find my wine by 10. And then it's like you can't even enjoy your wine. That's why they had the wine justifiable. 

Sher: I think I would become a heavy drinker too if I had to see that along the roadside as I was just walking along minding my own business.

Cydni: You can't work in that environment. 

Sher: I hope. Definitely cannot work in that environment. So these are just some of the reasons why the Jews [00:07:00] absolutely hated. The Roman Empire and all of this created a very rebellious environment. There was constant little rebellions popping up here and there because they did not want Rome to control them. since the Jews were allowed to practice their religion, they were still able to have Passover.

And during Passover, Jerusalem's population would become five to 10 times larger. So historians estimate that at the time. Jerusalem had between 40,000 and 80,000 people living in Jerusalem, but during Passover it could swell to 200,000 or more. So you have a bunch of people. Going to a Roman occupied city to celebrate Passover when these people are celebrating that Israel became free from Egyptian oppressors, and that's what they're doing now in Jerusalem, which is being controlled now by Roman oppressors. this really put the Roman government and the [00:08:00] soldiers on edge because they knew what the Jews were celebrating the city is ballooning in population . And then the Jews are also on the edge because they don't wanna see the Roman soldiers and they don't want the Roman soldiers bossing 'em around. So this is a time of a lot of contention and a lot of, disruption happening. Now to add to all the chaos, the Jewish people themselves were not all on the same page. They were not united.

we have the. Different groups, and I'm just gonna read the definition of the groups. So first of all, it's the Pharisees. They were the teachers and scholars who focused on strict obedience to Jewish law and traditions, and many synagogue leaders came from this group. Then we have the Sadducees. They were the priestly elites who controlled the temple, and they cooperated more with Rome to maintain their power.

Then the next group were the Enes, and they were a separatist group who believed the temple leadership was corrupt, and many scholars actually believed that this group of [00:09:00] people is who? The Dead Scrolls came from.

The next group was the zealots, and they believe Rome should be overthrown by force. And I know there was an apostle that was a zealot. 

Cydni: Yeah, Simon. Simon, the Zella, you know, he was one of the 12 apostles and he's actually really considered to be, I would say, passionate. Okay. We're laughing 'cause I'm Bri 

Sher: I couldn't remember. And Cydni looked it up, so now she's acting like she just, like I knew, knew it off the top of her head, 

Cydni: but I can't even keep it serious 'cause I'm like, this is how good I lie. Its like nobody would know but me that I'm reading this and you and I ruined it. Okay. This is what Google said. So it is Simon. And it said that he's depicted as a passionate and fiery and revolutionary individual, and they believe he's possibly part of the anti-Roman zealot party. 

Sher: With that, now we have all this chaos going on, plus the Jews are all divided into their little groups and it's causing obviously a lot of [00:10:00] problems now because of the oppression and because prophecy, many Jews believed that the Messiah. Was going to return to save them. Others believed a prophet like King David was going to come to free them from Rome. So as Christ entered Jerusalem, imagine this, okay? All of these groups of people that are welcoming Christ into the city or watching Christ carefully, they were all. On a different page. All of them had a different reason for welcoming Christ into the city. They all projected their own beliefs onto who they thought the Savior really was. There were other people that were humble followers and disciples of Christ, but most of the people, unfortunately, were taking their own beliefs and projecting them on who they thought Christ really was. Plus, to add to all of this, there were so many people that wanted to just see more miracles. They wanted the miracles to keep coming, and they [00:11:00] also wanted the free food.

That's one of the reasons why the group was so large celebrating and welcoming Christ into the city. at the same time, you have religious leaders and Roman leaders that are worried about losing their power.

So you have all of this going on all at the same time. And then when each group didn't get what they wanted or what they expected, you can see how they became angry or mad because they weren't getting what. They wanted out of Christ. And then evil leaders, in order to keep their own power, use this confusion on who Christ truly was. As a way to fuel the mob in anger and to encourage the mob to crucify our Lord. There was a lot of evil designs going on during this time. In the middle of all of it was this small group of believers that stayed true disciples, and they understood that Jesus came to save us from sin and from death. [00:12:00] And He made it possible for us to return to Him and our Heavenly Father again. So. As we're talking about Palm Sunday, for me, it was so helpful to understand, 'cause honestly, Cydni, I've never really understood why all these people were celebrating our Lord and Savior the way they should have.

Why were they having this big celebration and within a week, less than a week, they're crucifying Him? I can never quite wrap my head around it, and I've always thought about. The apostles and other disciples who followed Christ into the city. Can you just imagine how joyful they were, how happy they were, that everyone was celebrating the Savior, the way they were celebrating the Savior, when really you had all of these other dynamics going on and they weren't seeing the Savior in the correct or right way, and in just a few days that same crowd would turn on him.

 Yelled for Him to be crucified because he wasn't who they wanted. [00:13:00] It's just unbelievable to me the events that happened from Palm Sunday to the next Sunday. 

Cydni: What I gathered from your history lesson is one that people never change. There's the overtaxing to get the piece of your pie and showing up for the food. 

Sher: It's true. 

Cydni: We're all guilty of one of those. But I did have the same thoughts that, so many of the people are the same ones that are shouting Hosanna, and then the same people who are shouting crucify him but I did think that makes so much sense with the plea to have your own testimony. Because there were people there just to be there and it just shows that you could be in the right place physically, but not the right place spiritually.

And so just because you're surrounded by people who are in the right place for the right reason doesn't mean you are strong enough. You're not rooted enough. And so we do absolutely have to do the work so that. Individually, we are rooted and grounded and established in our own testimony because this [00:14:00] showcases how fast things can change.

Sher: Cydni and I were just talking about this earlier today about how important it is that we do have our own testimony because it is kind of scary. And that's something that both of us actually pray that we'll both be able to stay true to the gospel and true to our Savior. 'cause these times are insane and things are confusing and truly, I pray constantly that I will be able to stay on the Lord's side. 

Cydni: we did just have that conversation and we decided that it's better to make sure you're. Guarding yourself and understanding you could be a victim to losing faith. Rather than thinking you are above it. I see that in so many places in my life, even with my marriage, that I constantly remind myself as I have friends who have been married as long as I have and longer who do get a divorce that you're never safe. This is the message. Say you're never safe, guys. 

Sher: Well, what a good message. None of us are safe. 

Cydni: [00:15:00] Nobody is safe, tax and death. 

Sher: Happy Easter everyone. 

Cydni: We are really good at this. Like naturally.

 In The original notes that I had, that Sher has changed. I did. Think it would be awesome to go over some of the symbolism or the meaning of different words that you'll find when you read about Palm Sunday, which is in all four gospels. And I actually had a really great experience reading them all.

I say, actually, I actually had a great experience reading the Bible today. It was a great experience. I recommend it highly, but that was a lot of reading for me, for gospels. I had to find the page, read all the verses, but it was a good experience and I highly recommend it, even 

Sher: though it was taxing, 

Cydni: it was so taxing and there was no food.

So, I looked at some of the common words used and just wanted to define them, kind of show where they came from. But again, this is level one two, not level three.

So there's a lot of people who probably know more, but I will [00:16:00] say this. I did listen to several different religious leaders talk about these words from across the board, just different Christian denominations. And I also used AI and Google, and they are the same I think in my heart, I really wanted something mind blowing of learn this and you'll be changed as a person but.

it's very simple and I think that's a good reminder that so much of Christ Gospel. It is simple and it's basic, so with that being said let's talk about Hosanna. So this, originally it translates from Greek to save us pleas. It's a desperate plea of help in saving and deliverance.

So the actual terms found for Hosanna is save us. Please. Please deliver us. It's a desperate plea for help, and it's a plea to be saved from sin, oppression, suffering, spiritual death. And then later on it stays that it's [00:17:00] still plea.

It becomes a joyful declaration of praise and thanksgiving. And so, when you read through the gospels of Palm Sunday, I think it's so beautiful to consider it as a joyful declaration instead of just save us. But now salvation has come, praise God for this deliverance. And when I read that interpretation, I just thought of the true, genuine believers of Christ who were there that day.

And watching him come that they were feeling that they were feeling salvation has come as they watch Christ come into the city. And that just really touched my heart to consider that and it acknowledges that God is answering their cry. The save us. Please, please deliver us through the Messiah.

Sher: I have a quote from Elder Gong about this. Elder Gong said, the sacred events between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday are the story of Hosanna and hallelujah. Hosanna is our [00:18:00] plea to God To save, hallelujah expresses our praise to the Lord for the hope of salvation and exaltation in Hosanna and hallelujah.

We recognize the living Jesus Christ as the heart of Easter Cydni, when I read that, and everything that you just said, I love that it focuses on that our Savior, what he went through in that horrible, awful week was all done to save us. So at the end of that horrible week, we could say Hallelujah. 

Cydni: That quote is perfect and I feel like going forward, anything with Hosanna or hallelujah in it, I feel like I will be a little bit more reverent with understanding what's taking place. And I wrote down a few other words that were used when talking about Hosanna there's surrender and dependence, gratitude, hope, and one of the most beautiful ways I heard Hosanna described was as a one word prayer. And I thought that was so beautiful.

Sher: I really like that. and I am hoping for [00:19:00] myself that as we move forward with this Easter season and future Easters, that I can remember the Hosanna and hallelujah because I love the imagery of it, and I love what it means for my salvation. I find it so uplifting and hopeful.

Cydni: I agree. I really loved the idea of a one word prayer as they see Christ come into the city save us. Please, please deliver us now. And it's salvation has come. All with Hosanna. 

Sher: That's so good, Cydni 

Cydni: I also learned about the donkey that it was a fulfillment of Zacharia, which this prophecy is written 500 years before this happens, and it's in nine verse nine. It says, rejoice greatly. Oh, daughter of Zion. Shout Oh, daughter of Jerusalem. Behold thy king cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass and upon a cult, the full of an ass. So there you have a [00:20:00] prophecy written. 500 years before that He would come and He would be on the donkey. I read through different things with the donkey and it says that, a lot of times, well, people said this in their different interpretations that they thought, a lot of times when you think of a king, he's always on a horse and he has a crown, and here you have Christ coming into the city on a donkey.

And that's symbolic of humility and lowness, just like the prophecy says, it's an animal that's associated with everyday labor, with service and with the poor. And it represents gentleness. I also thought, is it interesting that Mary also was on a donkey when she went to Bethlehem? So he came to his deliverance on a donkey and then he rode into the city where he would be crucified, then resurrected also on a donkey. I don't know if there's something there, but I feel like there is. 

Sher: . I really like that. I really like the symbolism of it. And the other thing that I keep thinking of is [00:21:00] He is a God, He is a Savior and he is so humble and I do not know how He stayed so humble and so perfect and didn't even have a bad thought.

While you were talking, I'm like, he created the earth. How did he come in on a donkey? That is just unbelievable and it's such an example of how we should be acting. Because let me tell you, if I'd created the Earth, I would not have come in on a donkey 

Cydni: this is my golden bunny because I could do anything I want.

Sher: Darn right. 

Cydni: I love that you say that because when I was reading through the gospels this morning, a word stuck out and it's only in one of them and it is while he's writing on the donkey. And but before I tell you that, I wanna say one more thing about the donkey. That in ancient near Eastern cultures, a donkey was the royal Mount for peaceful and legitimate kings.

Sher: That makes a lot of sense. 

Cydni: Yes. And I believe it's in Mark that the word meek [00:22:00] is mentioned it's the only time in the gospels, but it mentions that He is riding on the donkey. But it says. That he's meek and I just loved it this time because we talked about meekness last year frequently, and we have the understanding that Christ, he was meek, which means , he could have done anything, he could have done things completely different. He had the power and, if he wanted to stop the plan, he could have.

He didn't, and that's what meekness is. It's having the ability and the power, but the understanding to keep it disciplined. You have the sword, but you don't use it, but you could if you needed to. 

Sher: And he completely, 100% did the will of His Father. At all times, He did it meekly and He did what The Father wanted. He didn't come in like Satan and go, wait, what if we do this instead? He just humbly followed the Father's plan and in so doing, saved all of us.

Cydni: Right. And as you [00:23:00] mentioned before that the crowds cheering must have been so hopeful for the apostles and maybe they thought. Maybe this will go different. Maybe this could be a different way. Maybe this whole experience is gonna really be something completely different than the suffering. But Christ knew it wasn't going to be, he knew what the outcome would be. He knew what was coming in the next week, and he still stayed true to the will of the father. 

Also when Christ came meekly on the donkey and fulfilled that prophecy the people laid down cloaks and also palm leaves so that the donkey could walk on it, and we learn about cloaks, that when you do that. It's an act of honoring a king. And many people see that the laying down the cloaks was a representation of your outer self. it didn't matter what your status was, that people of all walks of life were putting down their cloaks. So someone did say that it was like their status, the security, their identity, everything that they were laying it down, surrendering these things before [00:24:00] Jesus to let him walk over it and collectively honoring him as a king. That's a beautiful idea, but we know that some people probably were just doing it 'cause other people were doing it, but some people were doing it because they truly understood.

Sher: This is so frustrating because they were so close Cydni. They were so close, they were doing all the right things. When Jesus entered the city it could have been so good and it just changed so awful. Within just a few days, they were so close. 

Cydni: And there's so much for us to learn still, even if people were there with the wrong heart or people were there with the right heart, as they lay down their cloaks it does represent discipleship and the cost of discipleship , as they put their outer self down, that they understood what it would take to be a disciple. The sacrifice, the humility, and they were willing to do it. So hopefully we can follow the example of the people who were there because they truly understood who he was and that they really did feel that way, that they really did wanna surrender everything they had [00:25:00] before the king.

Sher: And not project what we want. Onto our Savior because I've done that before. I'm like, well, okay, if I do this, then I'll get this is it just me? Am I the only, only one?

. Heaven only knows. I don't know what I would've done if I would've been in the city at the time. I may have been in one of the groups that was just projecting what I wanted onto the Savior. But The point is to be humble and meek and do everything we can to keep ourselves in check so that we can be on God's side because God's not changing. It's up to us to be on His side. And I think for me, that's important for me to remember because sometimes I think. God, you should be on my side over here. But that's not how it works. 

Cydni: That reminds me that when we were talking about that we're trying really hard to stay true to the faith that we both did conclude that if we were to leave the faith, neither of us would be a better person. I feel that staying close to the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's stretched me because it's helped me. Good or more considerate when I don't want to [00:26:00] be and when I'm not in the mood for it. And it's helped me to sit through church even three hours at one time in my life. Can you believe it? My kids and I just talked about that three hour church. 

Sher: How did we do three? I don't know how we did three. 

Cydni: My son Titus was saying the same. He's like, I can't imagine.

He is like, unless you're in primary where you get to sing and then go to class, I could do. But he said at his age at 13, to sit through our Sunday school and then go into young men's. He said, no way. And then we laughed about how the pioneers sacrifice so much, and we're like, two hour. two hour church.

So This is the last one I, studied the palm leaves, the palm branches, they symbolize victory and joy. This was something that was a practice and a tradition for heroes and. Conquers and athletes, it is a sign of peace,

this one I loved the most, that it was a sign that a conflict had ended and the time was leading into harmony. But oh man, the tragedy that takes place before that actually [00:27:00] comes, which were still not there, right? We're still seeking that peace and that harmony. Right? We all are. 

Sher: We all are Cydni. We definitely all are. 

Cydni: It also represents eternal life and immortality. It's linked to the resilient date poem, which revives itself, and it bears fruit even in very harsh conditions, which I thought was really cool to learn about. 

Sher: That is cool. I did not know that.

Cydni: It's like a phoenix, but a palm tree. 

Sher: The symbolism just keeps coming. I love it. 

Cydni: It is actually really neat, to learn about it and then go back and read. Those few verses again, to understand, it's like how Hosanna is a one word prayer. It just feels like a faith punch in the face when you know all of these things and you go back and read it and just a little group of verses. It's very powerful. 

Sher: It Reminds me of going back to what you said at the beginning, that the gospel is simple and sometimes we try to make so much more out of it.

But really we've learned that the gospel is accessible to [00:28:00] even little children and that we are capable of understanding it. And it's me. I'm the one who overcomplicates everything. God just keeps it simple and real. 

Cydni: I couldn't agree with you more. You overcomplicate everything. Amen.

Sister. 

Sher: Thank you. Cydni can always depend on you. 

Cydni: I do wanna say one more thing about the people that they wanted to see more miracles. I read a few chapters back before he comes into the city and it was Lazarus. He had been raised from the dead, so people had heard about that, and I feel like if you've heard that there was a man who raised another man from death, that you would want to go and see him.

Sher: absolutely. They were part of the crowd that wanted to see the miracles. They wanted to see what was going on. And they wanted the free food, bring it all on. 

Cydni: It was like a social media follow. Like someone goes viral and you're like, Ooh, I'm gonna follow that person. But then you're like, mm. Unfollow. That's what they did. 

Sher: That is what they did. 

Cydni: Yeah. 

Sher: I have a quote from President Udo. [00:29:00] He said, it is fitting that during the week from Palm Sunday to Easter morning, we turn our thoughts to Jesus Christ, the source of light, life and love. The multitudes in Jerusalem may have seen him as a great king who would give them freedom from political oppression, but in reality he gave much more than that. He gave us his gospel, a pearl beyond price. The grand key of knowledge that once understood and applied unlocks a life of happiness, peace, and fulfillment.

Let us remember. On this Palm Sunday during this Easter season, and always that the restored gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has the power to fill any emptiness, heal any wound, bridge any veel of sorrow. It is the way of hope, faith, and trust in the Lord. after learning about the history and the symbolism, This is what our Saviors disciples thought. The crowd understood, they were thinking the crowd was all on the same page, [00:30:00] that they understood this what hope they must have felt as they entered that city. And then here comes Satan, turning the crowd into a mob of anger because they didn't get their way. And for corrupt leaders so that they could keep clinging onto their power. By the end of the week, there was despair and sorrow, but then starting with the apostle to the apostles, Mary Magdalene was the first to testify that he lives.

President Nelson said, I invite you to make this coming week truly holy. By remembering not just the palms that were waved to honor the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, but by remembering the palms of his hands. Behold I have grave in the upon the palms of my hands, a promise that Jesus Christ will never forget you.

As our resurrected and atoning savior, he stands ready to help us grow from the dramatic [00:31:00] unexpected events in our lives. And this Easter season, let us worship and praise him for the peace, hope, light, and truth he brings to us. This is what we all can have. . I should be listening to the Savior, following Him and just being a humble disciple of Christ. 

Cydni: We challenge you to prepare and celebrate Easter in a way that you have never done before. And in preparation, we challenge you to praise Jesus in a way that you never have before. There is a song written by FFH that's called, I'll Join the Rocks.

And I wanted to share this because I kept thinking of the crowds of people that you talked about. And my question is, what if you were the only one? How would you worship?

How would you praise what would your hosanna sound like? This is the song, but what if I'm the only one to break the silence? What if I'm the only one to crack the ice? I'll join the rocks in their singing. I'll [00:32:00] join the ocean as it harmonizes with as shore. I'll clap my hands. The mountains as the creation cries for me.

I'll never stop if I'm the last one living. Your song goes on and on and I must testify. I know that I was born to worship, so if all the singing seems to stop, I'll join the rocks. Because he has risen. 

Sher: Indeed. He has. This brings us to our final thoughts. Palm Sunday reminds us how easy it is to misunderstand what the Savior offers us. Many in Jerusalem wanted a king who would overthrow Rome, a leader who would give them political freedom, miracles, and prosperity.

But Jesus Christ came to offer something far greater. Freedom from sin, hope beyond death, and a path back to our Father in Heaven. Some people turned away when he didn't meet their expectations, but a small group of faithful disciples stayed. They [00:33:00] trusted him even when the weak turned dark and confusing.

As we stick to the basics of Easter, maybe the invitation for us is simple to be among those faithful disciples to welcome Him, not just with palm branches,, but with humble hearts, and then live in a way that allows us to also say Hallelujah for the hope and salvation He lives. This is our prayer 

Cydni: from Cydni and Sher

Cydni: he already factored in your stupidity. Your, I can't even say stupidity. Stupid. So what now 

Sher: we go to hell. 

Cydni: I'll take you to hell in my cart. All of us. I'm picking everyone up in carpool carts. We're going to hell. 

Okay. 

Sher: Whoa. 

Cydni: we [00:34:00] decided, well, no, you did. Nevermind. I was gonna say, we decided the history would be good, but that was actually you. So I'll say something else. Save us Please. I think Rudy was saying Hosanna right now.

Sher: Do we sing Hosanna? I don't know. 

Cydni: Wrap. 

Sher: When we wrap, 

Cydni: when we wrap. Hosannas. 

Sher: When we rope. . Rope. When we, we Rope. 

Cydni: When we have a cowboy party. Say it And in, I believe I bel what one is it? I think, 

Sher: I believe I Can Fly. 

Cydni: I believe I can. I loved that song. It touched my heart so much. I was like, I can fly. 

Sher: We had to write like a stupid teacher mission statement and I thought it was so stupid and so I wrote that on it.

Cydni: They probably really liked it. 

Sher: I got in trouble.

Cydni: We'd be like, who's taking my palm leaves down? Where are those going? Get outta my tree. 

Sher: Thanks for joining us. 

Cydni: We're so glad you're here. 

WORKS CITED

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Guide to the Scriptures: 

“Hosanna.”scriptures.churchofjesuschrist.org.

This reference explains the meaning of the word “Hosanna,” originally a plea 

meaning “save us now,” which later became a joyful expression of praise and 

gratitude to God.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Guide to the Scriptures: “Palm 

Branch.”scriptures.churchofjesuschrist.org.

Provides background on the symbolic use of palm branches in biblical times as 

signs of victory, honor, and rejoicing, helping explain their significance during 

Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Gong, Gerrit W. “Hosanna and Hallelujah—The Living Jesus Christ: The Heart of 

Easter.” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, April 2023 General 

Conference.

Elder Gong explains the connection between the cries of “Hosanna” on Palm 

Sunday and the “Hallelujah” of Easter morning, emphasizing that Jesus Christ’s 

suffering and Resurrection provide the hope of salvation and exaltation.

The Holy Bible. King James Version. The four Gospels (Matthew 21:1–11; Mark 

11:1–11; Luke 19:28–44; John 12:12–19) 

The Gospels provide the primary scriptural accounts of Jesus Christ’s triumphal 

entry into Jerusalem, describing the crowds shouting “Hosanna,” laying down 

cloaks and palm branches, and welcoming Him as the Messiah.

Nelson, Russell M. “The Answer Is Always Jesus Christ.” The Church of Jesus Christ 

of Latter-day Saints, April 2023 General Conference.

President Nelson teaches that the Savior’s atoning sacrifice and Resurrection 

bring peace, healing, and hope to every person, encouraging believers to 

remember the marks in the Savior’s hands and trust in His power to help them 

through life’s challenges.