LESSON 19: Hosanna
Lesson 19: Hosanna
(Mathew 21:1-16, Mark: 1-10, Luke 19:29-40)
Children, can you name the festivals you celebrate with great joy? Maybe it’s your parish church’s main festival (Perunnal). But what are the festivals of our Lord? (Let the children say). The most important ones are Christmas, Hosanna and Easter. Children enjoy Christmas with carol singing and celebrations. But for Hosanna, they come to church with bags full of flowers, isn’t it? At the church, everyone gets blessed palm leaves. Hosanna is a festival of flowers for children and palm leaves for all. This festival brings excitement and great joy among boys and girls.
When is Hosanna? We celebrate Hosanna on the Sunday before Passover. Jesus was on his way to the temple of Jerusalem when he reached Bethpage at the Mount of Olives. He sent his disciples to bring a colt (a young donkey). The disciples found a colt that had never been ridden before. When they untied the colt, some people asked the disciples why they were taking it. They replied, as Jesus had told them, “The Lord needs it.” They laid their clothes on the donkey and Jesus sat on it and went to Jerusalem. The disciples, boys and girls spread flowers on the road. They cut branches from date palm trees and held them high and shouted, “Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of Lord, Hosanna in the highest”. This made the high priests upset. Jesus told them, “Haven’t you read that out of the mouth of babies and sucklings, you have ordained praise.” (Psalm 8:2) “If they keep quiet, stones will start shouting.”
Hosanna is a festival in memory of the glorious entry of Jesus joined by disciples, boys and girls.
To understand Hosanna even better, watch these short videos: Video 1 Video 2
Jesus said, “It is written that my temple will be called a house of prayer. But you have made it into a den of thieves.”
Hosanna: Say it, Know it, Learn It!
Meaning: Praise
Origin: Hebrew
Pronunciation: ho-sanna, hos(an)-na
Moral
- Our Lord needs even ordinary and helpless people, yes the most ordinary me too.
- Children who praise God, receive baptism, become church members, and commit to following Christ.
Questions
- Which festival is known as Festival of flowers and palm leaves?
- When they untied the colt (the young donkey), what did the disciples tell the people who asked them why they were doing it?
- When they sang Hosanna to Jesus, what were the words used to describe him?
- What was Jesus’s reply to the high priests who were upset by the Hosanna chantings?
Exercise
- Memorize the Hosanna praises.
- Give examples of the ways in which we can protect nature.
- Plant new trees and plants.
- Clean the surroundings.
- Do not waste water.
- Word Search – Find the following words: Hosanna, Praise, Jesus, Palm