At a U2 rock concert the lead singer, Bono, redirected some of the crowd’s praise. “This one’s for God,” I heard him yell. But I’m not sure how many others could hear him over all the noise.

That concert crowd reminds me of the crowd at Jerusalem as Jesus rides in on a colt. That crowd also misses that this one’s for God. Instead, they seem pretty sure that Jesus is for them. But, as Mark tells it, this episode is rather anticlimactic. There’s hardly any response after Jesus enters the temple courts. We don’t see opposition from the government or the religious leaders.

Sometimes following Jesus can feel anticlimactic to us. We want Jesus to swoop in and face off with whatever troubles us. The crowd in Mark’s account yells, “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” They want an earthly kingdom like David’s, and a king who will rise up and fight for them. Like us, they have missed what Jesus is really about.

Hosanna means “save us.” As King, Jesus has done that. But saving us required more than setting up a new nation or religion; it meant Jesus had to die for all our sin. Jesus had to fight a spiritual battle. And because Jesus was victorious, we have a King who offers us not just a better life right now—but new life with him forever.