One of the moments that sometimes gets lost in stories of Passion Week is something traditionally called The Children’s Hosanna. It is a brief mention in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 21. Right after the Triumphal Entry, while Jesus was healing the blind and lame in the Temple, a spontaneous shout of praise broke out.
It was more of the Hosanna in the Highest that the angels started singing the night Jesus was born. The song had been quiet for thirty-some years, only breaking out now and then when a demon was cast out or a body was healed. But now, in these last days, it is being shouted all over town.
And suddenly, it is picked up by the children. One of my favorite writers on all things historical or Jewish is Alfred Edersheim. He says the correct translation is young boys and that these were probably sons who accompanied their fathers to the Temple that day.
I love that. I can imagine those little boys, following in their father’s footsteps, trying to do everything just as their father’s did. And suddenly in the middle of the Temple rituals, a new song breaks out. A new sound is heard. And these small boys picked it up and shouted right along with the angels.
Maybe they didn’t truly understand what they said, but surely their souls were stirred. And all because they were in the right place at the right time. All because their fathers took them along for prayers and worship.
We never know when a moment like this will break out in our lives. Maybe in a Sunday service when the wind of the Spirit blows in a new way. Or maybe in our living room when a snatch of conversation becomes a discussion on how the world was made.
The song of Hosanna is still ringing. Our role as parents is simply to keep our children in a place where they can hear it. They will have to choose to sing.