The Sanctus presents us with two very different images of God. In the first two sentences, we acclaim God the Father who is awesome and powerful, holy and glorious. In the second two sentences, we remember that in love and humility this awesome and powerful God came to us in human form and offered himself, God the Son, as a sacrifice, dying to take away all our sin. Whenever we repeat the Sanctus, we should remember Passion Sunday and Good Friday and that the voices that cried out “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest,” are the same voices that turned against Jesus just a few days later shouting, "Crucify him."
Hosanna is a Hebrew word that means, “Save, we ask.” The people who greeted Jesus on the road into Jerusalem spreading their cloaks, waving branches and crying out, “Hosanna in the highest,” were expecting a king, a liberator, or a conquering hero. They wanted Jesus to save them from the Romans. They were not looking for a Savior, who was meek and humble “spurned and avoided by people, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, one of those from whom people hide their faces” (Isaiah 53: 3). They did not expect a suffering, servant king. It was not until after the Crucifixion and Resurrection that the disciples and other followers of Jesus understood that through his willingness to die on the cross, Jesus Christ entered into that fullness of glory we sing about in the Sanctus. “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.”
Lord God,
as we enter this Holy Week,
let the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus.
Empty us of our pride and selfishness;
draw us close to his cross,
that as we celebrate his passion and resurrection,
our lives may become models of self-sacrificing love.
We ask this through Christ, our liberator from sin,
who lives with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
AMEN.
