When My Back Was Crying “Hosanna”

A Finnish expression, pain and a cry for help.

In Finnish, we have this strange old saying. When something hurts badly, people sometimes say it is “crying Hosanna.”

Your back is crying Hosanna.
Your knees are crying Hosanna.
Your whole body is crying Hosanna.

It is one of those expressions people throw around half jokingly when pain demands attention and your body decides it has had enough.

That phrase came into my mind very literally recently after I slipped at work and hurt my back. Somewhere in the middle of the pain, I suddenly thought: my back is crying Hosanna.

And then I stopped to think about what that word actually means.

“Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.”
(Psalm 118:25, KJV)

In the Bible, people cried “Hosanna” to Jesus as He entered Jerusalem. It is often imagined as a joyful scene: palm branches, crowds, celebration and excitement. Hosanna sounds almost triumphant when we hear it in songs and church traditions.

But underneath the joy, it was still a cry for help.

Hosanna literally means: save us now.

People were rejoicing because Jesus stood before them, but at the same time they were also admitting their need. Their joy did not remove their desperation. The two existed together.

That is probably why the word has survived for so long.

It is not pure celebration, and it is not pure despair either. It is hope born in the middle of need.

And suddenly that strange little Finnish saying started making more sense to me.

The “Hosanna” cried before Jesus and the cry of an aching body are maybe not as far apart as they first sound. Both are saying the same thing in different ways:

I need help.

I cannot carry this alone.

Hosanna.

Save now.