Saint Luke - Chapter 19
[Palm Sunday]
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| Hosanna filio David. J-J Tissot |
And when he was now coming near the descent of mount Olivet, the whole multitude of his disciples began with joy to praise God with a loud voice, for all the mighty works they had seen,
[38] dicentes : Benedictus, qui venit rex in nomine Domini : pax in caelo, et gloria in excelsis.
Saying: Blessed be the king who cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory on high!
[39] Et quidam pharisaeorum de turbis dixerunt ad illum : Magister, increpa discipulos tuos.
And some of the Pharisees, from amongst the multitude, said to him: Master, rebuke thy disciples.
[40] Quibus ipse ait : Dico vobis, quia si hi tacuerint, lapides clamabunt.
To whom he said: I say to you, that if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out.
Saint Matthew - Chapter 21
[8] Plurima autem turba straverunt vestimenta sua in via : alii autem caedebant ramos de arboribus, et sternebant in via :
And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way: and others cut boughs from the trees, and strewed them in the way:
A great multitude, &c.; branches, of palms, olives, and other fruit trees, in which the Mount of Olives abounds, as S. Jerome says: for this multitude, not having carpets (which are accustomed to be laid down for royal progresses), laid down their garments for Christ, stripping themselves as a notable mark of their reverence for Him. These things happened on the twentieth of March; for in Palestine, which is a hot country, the trees are then in full leaf.
Tropologically. Remigius says: “The Lord came to Jerusalem sitting upon an ass, because He presides over the holy Church and the faithful soul, and rules it in this life, and afterwards introduces it to the vision of the celestial country.
The Apostles and other Doctors placed their garments upon the ass, because they gave to the Gentiles the glory which they had received from Christ.
But the multitude spread their garments in the way, because those of the circumcision who believed despised the glory which they had from the Law.
And they cut down branches from the trees, because they received testimonies from the prophets, who flourished, as it were, from Christ, the Tree.
Or the multitude which strawed their garments in the way signifies the martyrs, who gave their bodies, the garments of their souls, to martyrdom for the sake of Christ.
Or they who tame their bodies by abstinence are signified.
But they who cut down branches from the trees are those who search for the sayings and examples of the holy Fathers, for the salvation of themselves and of their children.”
[9] turbae autem, quae praecedebant, et quae sequebantur, clamabant, dicentes : Hosanna filio David : benedictus, qui venit in nomine Domini : hosanna in altissimis.
And the multitudes that went before and that followed, cried, saying: Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
But the multitudes which went before, &c. S. John (12:12) says: On the morrow—i.e., Palm Sunday, or the day after the Sabbath, on which Jesus had come to Bethany—“much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet Him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord”—that is, Messias, whom, as the Divine king, we have been expecting for so many thousand years. The multitude went out to meet Him with palms, as a conqueror, because formerly victors in the games were crowned with palms. Thus the Church expounds when, in the Benediction of Palms, she chants thus: “Therefore the branches of palms anticipate the triumph over the king of death; the sprays of olives verily, as it were, cry aloud that the spiritual anointing has come. For even then that blessed multitude of people understood that it was prefigured that the Redeemer, grieving for the misery of the human race, was about to fight with the prince of death for the life of the whole world, and to triumph by dying. Therefore they obediently rendered such services, which should set forth in Him both the triumphs of His victory and the riches of His mercy.” For although the multitude did not know that in four days Christ was about to suffer upon the Cross, He knew it, and therefore He willed that this His triumph should be foreshown by the multitude with palms. And they brought Christ, as it were the Lamb which taketh away the sins of the world, who was to be offered for its salvation upon the following Friday. For although they were at this time ignorant of the mystery of which the paschal lambs were types and figures, God, who foreknows all things, ordained them for the glory of Christ. Zechariah had predicted them, and so had David (Psalm 118:25, &c.); and therefore the Jews, who would not believe in Christ, were without excuse. All this bringing the paschal lamb to Jerusalem was done in accordance with the law (Exodus 12:3, 6), where the paschal lamb is ordered to be chosen on the tenth day of the first month. The tenth of Nisan fell that year on Palm Sunday, which was—according to our computation—that year the twentieth of March.
Hosanna. So the Egyptian and Arabic. The Syrian has Onschano, the Ethiopic Husanna, the Persian Husiana. You will ask what is the meaning of Hosanna?
1. S. Hilary, on this passage, and from him S. Ambrose, think that Hosanna signifies the redemption of the house of David. But S. Jerome (Epist. ad Dam.) shows that this is a mistake.
2. S. Austin (Tract. 51 in Joan.) thinks Hosanna is an interjection of joy and supplication, like well done! bravo!
3. Euthymius says Hosanna means praise, being derived from עו, hoz—i.e., strength, which the Vulgate and LXX sometimes translate praise—and חנה, chanah, i.e., grace. Whence also the Greeks represent Ho sauna by two words.
But I say with S. Jerome, Theophylact, Pagninus, Jansen, and others that Hosanna is compounded of הושע, hoscha, save, and נא na, i.e., I beseech. Hosanna is therefore, save, I beseech, or save now. Hoscanna has been changed into Hosanna for the sake of euphony.
There is an allusion to Psalm 118:25, 26, “Save me,” though the word me is not in the Hebrew (for it seems to be not the voice of Christ but of the people praying for salvation from Christ), “O Lord, send now prosperity. Blessed be He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Symmachus translates, “I beseech, O Lord, save me, I beseech.” The Hebrew is, Anna Jehovah, hoscia na; anna Jehovah, hatslicha na, i.e., O Lord, save, I beseech; O Lord, prosper I beseech, our King David and his antitype, Messiah. Give him a happy beginning of his reign, a happier progress in it, and a most happy conclusion. Hosanna, then, is an acclamation to the new king of Israel, at his proclamation, as we say, God save the King.
Hence, too, we have in the same Psalm, “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (ver. 24): and the reason is given in the two previous verses, “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.” Where the Chaldee (paraphrase) applies it to David. David being first rejected, and afterwards made king, was, as it were, a corner stone, binding to himself Judah and Jerusalem, i.e., the two, as well as the ten tribes. Still better does S. Matthew explain it of Christ, thus, Christ being rejected by the Jews in life, and crucified in death, became the corner stone of the Church after His resurrection, as containing and connecting the whole edifice of the Church by uniting both Jews and Gentiles in the one bosom of His Church; and thus it is that we sing Hosanna unto Him.
Some think Hosanna was taken from the Feast of Tabernacles, when the Jews, rejoicing with boughs of trees, were wont frequently to cry Hosanna. And in prayers and litanies to God, the whole multitude used to respond with the same word, Hosanna, i.e., save us. As Christians in their litanies at each of the suffrages relating to pestilence, famine, war, and so on, respond, Good Lord, deliver us. Wherefore also the Jews were accustomed to call the boughs themselves Hosanna, as Angelus Caninius shows from the Chaldee, the Talmud, and Elias (Tract. de nomin. Heb. c. 4). But this Hosanna of the Chaldee paraphrast and the Talmudists was subsequent to our Christian Hosanna, so that it was rather taken from ours than ours from theirs. Besides, the Hosanna of the Feast of Tabernacles was one of affliction and deprecation, but the Hosanna in this place of Christ was one of jubilation and triumph.
This multitude, therefore, broke forth by God’s inspiration into this joyful shout of Hosanna, in honour of Christ, even as the children did in verse 15. Although the occasion of it was the remembrance of that great miracle, viz., the raising of Lazarus, which had been performed shortly before by Christ in Bethany, as is plain from John 11:15, and 12:9, 17.
To the Son of David: many of the ancients refer these words to the multitude, as if they asked for salvation from their own Messiah. Hosanna to the Son of David, i.e., our salvation is from the Son of David. Or, let salvation come to us from the Son of David. So Origen, S. Jerome, Bede, &c.
Others refer Son of David not to Hosanna, but to saying. They said to the Son of David, i.e., to Christ, Save me, who am thy people, O Son of David, i.e., Messiah, our King.
But I say that Hosanna to the Son of David, means the same thing as, Save I beseech thee, Son of David. For so it should be rendered according to the Latin syntax. But the Greek interpreter, equally with the Latin, followed the Hebraism. For the Hebrew verb hoscha, save, is constructed with lamed, which is the sign of the dative case, and sometimes of the accusative. The multitude therefore besought God to save and prosper Messiah, that they might all be safe, and live happily under Him. Or still better and more simply, Hosanna to the Son of David, let that solemn Hosanna be made to Jesus sprung from David, whom we acknowledge to be the promised, and up to this time expected Son of David.* Let Him be, let Him happen, let Him be acclaimed unanimously by us. This is the voice and the acclamation of the people by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, acknowledging Jesus as the Son of David, i.e., the Messiah, and congratulating Him, as it were entering upon the kingdom of His father David, the restoration of which by Him had been so long expected; in fine, praying for health, prosperity and all propitious things for Him from God, and joyfully promising the same to themselves through Him. For where Christ is called the Son of David, there there is reference to the restitution of David’s kingdom. So Franciscus Lucas.
Moreover Caninius in the place already quoted from, thus expounds, Hosanna to the Son of David, i.e., in our hands we bear Hosannas, that is branches of palms, to the Son of David, that indeed we may honour Him as the King Messiah, and in triumph accompany Him as a victor and triumphing. Or, Hosanna to the Son of David, that is, cut ye down boughs, which as Hosanna ye may offer to the Son of David. As the Poet says, “Give ye lilies with full hands.” But one thing was the Hosanna of the Feast of Tabernacles, namely like a certain Litany, another thing that of the crowd here by Hosanna to Christ, proclaiming and congratulating His triumph, as I have said a little before.
More plainly and fully you may say, that by the people it was here cried to Christ, Hosanna to the Son of David, meaning thus: “O Lord save not only our Messiah, David’s Son and Heir, but grant also to Him the power of saving all the faithful believing in Him, and subject unto Him, that Thy Divine salvation may be so abundantly derived from Thee to Christ that He may cause the same to emanate and flow forth unto us. For verbs of the conjugation Hiphil have a specially active force, whence they often signify a double action. Hosca therefore, i.e., save, signifies, save Christ, and at the same time cause that He should save His subjects, that in truth, even as He is called, so He may verily be Jesus, i.e., the Saviour of the World. For Jesus is derived from ישע iasca, i.e., he hath saved, which in Hiphil, the action being augmented, makes הושע hosca. From this cause the translator gives, to the Son of David, in the dative, whereas otherwise it might be translated, the Son of David, in the accusative. For the dative signifies, that salvation, i.e., the power of saving all men, as it were, appropriated to Him alone was given to Christ by God. Note this, because as far as I know it has not been observed by any one.
Here, therefore, Christ as the glorious, powerful and triumphant King of Israel, whom none can resist, is as it were installed in Jerusalem, the royal city, in which formerly David and Solomon the ancestors of Christ had gloriously reigned, that He might restore their fallen kingdom, yea perfect it; and instead of its being earthly, make it heavenly; divine, instead of human; eternal, instead of temporal. Him furthermore the people by Hosanna partly applaud, partly pray for salvation for Him, i.e., felicity and every good thing. This is what Mark says (11:9, 10). “And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
Moreover Christ as it were entered into this His kingdom of the Church, five days afterwards, on the day before the Passover, when He triumphed on the Cross over sin, the world, the devil and hell, and delivered all nations from their power as far as He was concerned, and subjugated them. Wherefore the Church in her Votive Mass of the Passion of Christ, sings to Him, “To Thee be glory, Hosanna; to Thee triumph and victory: to Thee the crown of highest praise and honour, Alleluia.” Hence too the Church in the Benediction of Palms prays to God that, “carrying palms and branches of olives, we may with good deeds run to meet Christ and may through Him enter into eternal joy.”
Blessed (supply, may He be) who cometh (Greek, ὁ ἐρχόμενος, i.e., He coming, viz., who was about to come, who was expected) in the name of the Lord. It means, may God bless, further, prosper, and make glorious the Kingdom of Messiah, our King. For He cometh to us in the name of the Lord, i.e., He is authorised, sent, and endowed by the Lord. Thus in Jeremiah (4:16) it is said, “Thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord,” i.e., by the commandment, authority, and in the place of God. And (chap. 3:17), “All nations shall be gathered together unto it (Jerusalem) in the name of the Lord.” There is an allusion to Psalm 45:3, “Gird Thee with Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most Mighty,” &c., “Press forward, proceed prosperously, and reign.” “For Christ is the King of Israel,” says S. Augustine (in Joan. cap. 12:23), “in that He rules minds; that He counsels for eternity; that He leads those who believe, hope, and love, to the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Tropologically, Remigius: Christ, he says, comes in the name of the Lord, because in all His good works He sought not His own glory, but the glory of the Father.
Hosanna in the highest: Jansen explains it as though it were said, “Thou, O Lord, who art, and who dwellest in the highest Heavens, save Messiah.” Better Franc. Lucas, Maldonatus, and others, take the preposition ב, in, for מן, min, i.e., from, according to the Hebrew construction, as though it were said, “Thou, O Lord, from Heaven, yea from the highest top of Heaven, save and prosper King Messiah.” For they prayed for Messiah, not earthly and transitory salvation from man; but divine, heavenly, and eternal from God, viz., that God would divinely save Him, and give Him the power of saving others; that, indeed, Christ by His grace would lead all His faithful and holy ones to the eternal salvation, felicity, kingdom, and glory.
Hence Origen explains Hosanna to mean restitution to life eternal. For this is intimated by the words, in the highest, or as he himself reads, in the lofty, that in truth this salvation must be sought for not on earth, but in Heaven. Again, S. Jerome says, “The advent of Christ is shown to be the salvation of the whole world, joining earthly things to heavenly.” The Gloss adds, in the lofty, because Christ is the salvation even of the angels, whose number He fills up. Whence Emm. Sa adds that even the angels who are in the high places are here invited to the triumph and praise of Christ Messiah. Wherefore S. Luke (19:38), instead of Hosanna, has peace in Heaven, that is, safety, prosperity, and every good thing (for this is what peace denotes to the Hebrews) be from Heaven to Messiah, and through Him may they flow, and rain from God upon us; and glory on high (supply) may there be to God, the giver to Messiah. Or rather, glory, viz., of the kingdom, firm, great, and constant, this is a glorious kingdom; in, i.e., from on high, understand, from Heaven let there be divinely given to our Messiah.
So Franc. Lucas. Again, more loftily, Peace in Heaven (let there be), namely, that God, until now angry with men, may be propitious to Christ, and through Christ to us; and may He reconcile angels to men, Heaven to earth, God to the synagogue. “Hence some,” says S. Chrysostom, “interpret Hosanna, glory—others, the Resurrection; for also glory is due to Him, and redemption belongs to Him, who all hath redeemed.” Meaning, let glory and praise be to the God of all things who is on high. The angels sang the same at the birth of Christ. But Hosanna properly signifies not glory, but salvation. But our salvation through Christ was the glory of God. In another sense, in the preface of the Sacrifice of the Mass, at the Trisagion, Holy, Holy, Holy, is added. “Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord,” that, indeed, we should pray not for Christ, but for ourselves, through Christ, for salvation, by asking that He also may by all be blessed, worshipped, praised, and may in turn copiously pour forth His blessings and graces upon us. Luke adds (19:41), And when He drew near, beholding the city, He wept over it, saying, because thou shouldst have known, even thou, &c. Because He foresaw and foretold its dreadful punishment and destruction by Titus and Vespasian.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam
Ad Jesum per Mariam
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