Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord

Jesus started out his ministry with the phrase ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Matthew 4: 17. And in this week’s Gospel Luke 19: 28-40 the pilgrims accompanying Jesus into Jerusalem ‘began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice … saying “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord”. The time has arrived and the King is about to be anointed.

And we, spiritually part of the crowd coming into Jerusalem, can feel the joy and anticipation of the moment. We wave our palms not only in celebration but also in recognition that the journey of repentance and belief has brought us to this sacred threshold.

The long-awaited King enters, not with the might of earthly power, but with humility. In accompanying Him, we are invited to renew our hearts, to let His reign take root in our lives, and journey through the mystery of Holy Week toward the fullness of Easter joy.

Yet, there is a disconnect between the pilgrims that follow Him along the pilgrimage from Galilee and the crowd they meet in Jerusalem. Pope Benedict, in his book on Holy Week, makes this important distinction. Those from Galilee—the countryside—are fisher folk and farmers, humble people who have walked with Jesus, witnessed His miracles, and heard His teaching firsthand in the towns and villages by the Sea of Galilee. Their faith has grown through lived encounters.

But in Jerusalem, they meet a different crowd—city dwellers shaped by political tension and religious rigidity, weary from the burdens of Roman occupation and skeptical of messianic hopes. For them, the arrival of Jesus may stir anxiety rather than celebration, as His presence threatens the fragile balance of power.

This tension foreshadows the dramatic shift in tone that will unfold as the week progresses—a reminder that even today, belief in Christ’s kingship can evoke both joy and resistance in the hearts of those He comes to save.

We ask ourselves—where do we belong? Are we among the joyful pilgrims who have walked with Jesus, hearts open and shaped by His word? Or do we find ourselves in the skeptical crowd, hesitant to believe, wary of what true kingship might demand of us? Holy Week invites us to reflect honestly on our place in the story.