When "Hosanna" Turns to "Crucify Him": The Question of Lasting Praise

Meta Description: On Palm Sunday, the crowd went from shouting "Hosanna!" to "Crucify Him!" in just days. What does that mean for our own praise and faith today?

This past Sunday was Palm Sunday, and if you've been a Christian for any length of time, you've probably heard a Palm Sunday message every year. But this year, I want us to look at it from a different angle — one that I believe cuts right to the heart of our walk with God.

Here's the question I want to ask you today: Is your praise lasting?

We all know how to praise. The crowd on Palm Sunday certainly did. They were loud, emotional, and excited as Jesus rode into Jerusalem. The streets were packed. People were throwing their garments on the ground and waving palm branches. The energy was electric — like your team just scored the winning touchdown in the biggest game of the year.

And then, just three or four days later, those same voices were shouting, "Crucify Him."

What happened?

They Knew How to Praise, But Not How to Follow

Matthew 21:9 tells us: "The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, 'Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!'"

That word hosanna literally means "save us." And that's exactly what the crowd wanted — but they wanted the wrong kind of salvation. They weren't crying out for a Savior from sin. They were crying out for a political deliverer. The Jewish people were under Roman rule, and they were convinced Jesus had arrived to overthrow the empire and set them free.

They were praising Jesus, but for the wrong reason.

This is a trap we can fall into today. We want a God who does what we want, how we want, and when we want. I always say it this way: God is not a Burger King — you can't just "have it your way." He is the King of Kings. He is sovereign. And when He doesn't move the way we expected, we have a choice to make.

Emotional Praise Without Revelation Won't Last

In John chapter 6, after Jesus fed five thousand people, a massive crowd began following Him. But when He started teaching them about the cost of discipleship — about suffering, sacrifice, and taking up a cross — the crowd thinned out fast. John 6:66 records one of the most sobering lines in all of Scripture: "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him."

That's the same pattern we see on Palm Sunday. They loved the miracles. They loved the blessings. But they did not love the message of what it truly costs to follow Christ.

Jesus described this very thing in Luke 8:13: "Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away."

Emotional praise is like a firework — it shoots up bright and beautiful, and then it's gone. But true praise is like an ember in a fire. The flames may die down, but the heat remains. Throw a log on it the next morning, and it catches right back.

True Praise Is Proven Under Pressure

Anyone can praise God when things are going well. But what about midnight?

Acts 16:25-26 gives us a powerful picture: "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone's chains came loose."

Paul and Silas weren't in a comfortable situation. They were in chains, in a cold prison, for doing exactly what God called them to do. And yet they praised Him anyway. And when they praised God in that dark, pressured place, every chain broke and every door flew open.

There is power in the midnight praise.

I'll never forget the day my dad had a heart attack. He coded five times. As I drove to meet the helicopter at the hospital, I was praying hard — and the Lord spoke to me clearly: "Will you still love Me and worship Me if I don't answer your prayer the way you want?"

I had to sit with that for a moment. Then I said, "Yes, Lord. Whether my dad lives or dies today, it's not going to change my worship to You."

He lived that day, but passed away about eleven months later. And I won't pretend it wasn't hard. But I never shook my fist at God. Because my praise isn't based on what God does for me — it's based on who God is.

Jesus Is Looking for Loyal Praise

In John 4:23-24, Jesus tells a Samaritan woman: "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."

The Father is seeking true worshippers. Not seasonal worshippers. Not situational worshippers. Not people who praise Him only when the bank account is full and the body is healed. He is looking for loyal praise — worship rooted in relationship and truth, not just emotion and circumstance.

Job understood this. After losing his children, his livestock, and everything he had, he said: "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." (Job 1:21)

Job didn't praise God for the loss. He praised God through it. Because his worship wasn't transactional — it was relational.

Key Takeaways

• Emotional praise is real, but it's not enough. Our feelings will shift with our circumstances. Our praise has to be rooted deeper than that.
• Knowing who Jesus is matters. The crowd on Palm Sunday had a partial picture of Jesus. When reality didn't match their expectations, they turned on Him. We need a full, biblical understanding of who Christ is and why He came.
• The same mouth that praises can also reject. Peter was certain he'd never deny Jesus — and he meant it. But when the pressure came, he did. We all have that capacity. Stay humble. Stay rooted.
• Praise through the pressure is the most powerful kind. Paul and Silas didn't praise God after the chains fell off. They praised Him until the chains fell off.
• God wants our midnight praise, not just our Sunday morning praise. He's worthy of both.

This Week's Challenge

Hebrews 13:15 calls us to "continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that openly profess his name."

Not occasionally. Not when things are good. Continually.

This week, I want to encourage you to examine your praise. When things don't go the way you expected — when the prayer isn't answered the way you hoped, when the door stays closed, when the trial lingers — will you still praise Him?

Don't be like the Palm Sunday crowd, praising when it's convenient and turning away when it's costly. Be like Paul and Silas. Be like Job. Let your praise be loyal, lasting, and rooted in the truth of who God is.

He is worthy — not just on the good days, but on every day.

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