Hosanna to the Most High God by Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:
Jesus Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem and the events of the week that followed exemplify doctrine we can apply in our lives today.
Today, as has been said, we join with Christians around the world to honor Jesus Christ on this Palm Sunday. Nearly 2,000 years ago, Palm Sunday marked the beginning of the last week of the mortal ministry of Jesus Christ. It was the most important week in human history.
What began with the heralding of Jesus as the promised Messiah in His triumphant entry into Jerusalem closed with His Crucifixion and Resurrection.1 By divine design, His atoning sacrifice concluded His mortal ministry, making it possible for us to live with our Heavenly Father for eternity.
Scriptures tell us that the week began with throngs standing at the gates of the city to see “Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.”2 They “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.”3
That biblical account of so long ago reminds me of being on a Church assignment in Takoradi, Ghana. Remarkably, I was there on Palm Sunday.
I was to divide the Takoradi Ghana Stake to create the Mpintsin Ghana Stake. Today, there are over 100,000 members of the Church in Ghana.4 (We welcome the Ga Mantse, His Majesty King Nii Tackie Teiko Tsuru II of Accra, Ghana, who is with us today.) Meeting with these Saints, I felt their profound love and devotion to the Lord. I expressed my great love for them and that the President of the Church loved them. I referred to the Savior’s words recorded by John: “That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”5 They deemed it the “I love you conference.”6
As I looked up and down the rows of those dear brothers and sisters and their families in the chapel, I could see in their faces the glow of testimony and faith in Jesus Christ. I felt their desire to be counted as part of His far-reaching Church. And when the choir sang, they sang like angels.
Like on Palm Sunday of old, these were disciples of Jesus Christ gathered to pay tribute to Him as did those at the gates of Jerusalem who, with palms in their hands, exclaimed, “Hosanna … : Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”7
Even the parishioners in a church nearby were honoring Palm Sunday. As I was speaking from the pulpit, I noticed out the window they were joyfully walking down the street waving palms in their hands, much like those in this photo. It was a sight I will never forget—all of us that day worshipping the King of kings.
President Russell M. Nelson has admonished us to make Palm Sunday “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.” Then President Nelson referred to Isaiah, who spoke of the Savior’s promising, “I will never forget you,” with these words: “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.”8
The Lord knows firsthand that mortality is hard. His wounds remind us that He “descended below … all”9 that He might succor us when we suffer and be our example to “hold on thy way,”10 His way, that “God shall be with [us] forever and ever.”11
For Elder Rasband’s complete talk, click ‘Hosanna to the Most High God’.
