Andrea Steinkamp: "Save Us!" (Sermon for March 29, 2026)

“The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!’” — Matthew 21:9

Palm Sunday is sometimes framed as a victory parade—a foreshadowing of resurrection. And it’s true that in the Roman Empire, palms symbolized conquest and power.

But in Jesus’s Jewish context, palms meant something else.

They were part of Sukkot, a harvest festival rooted in prayer—prayer for rain, for sustenance, for life. “Hosanna” was not a victory cry. It was a plea:

Save us.

Lately, every time a news alert lights up my phone, I find myself echoing that ancient prayer:

Hosanna. Save us.
We are being drained by empire.
Quench our parched land.
Quench our parched bodies.
Quench our parched spirits.

These are hard times. But as David Billings wrote in his devotional this morning, “the hard times are not the end times…I gain hope from those who rage against the brutality and injustice of it all. I gain hope from those whose rage is made manifest in the streets.”

Palm Sunday is not just a parade. It is a protest—hope entering the city not on a warhorse, but on a humble donkey.

On Sunday, we will gather to remember.
See you there,
Pastor Andrea