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

The people jubilantly welcome their Messiah with words taken from Psalm 118: ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’
As you know, the scene ends in a terrible anticlimax: And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’
Jesus found the religious institution symbolized by the temple to be not a vehicle of grace but a barrier to it. He was forced to empty it. This is our final chance as we begin Holy Week to ask him to cleanse away whatever in our hearts is a barrier to grace.
We walk the way of the cross with him let us hear him speaking to us (words borrowed from Bede North msc):
‘My friends – yes, that is what you are – my friends.
My life was not complete till I crowned it with my death.
You must complete my death with your life.
Accept each moment as it comes to you with faith and trust.
Do not look for me in empty tombs or far off places.
I am in you.
I am in your neighbour.
I am in your home, your office, your factory, your schoolroom.
Wherever you are, I am there with you.
As you leave this church, take up your cross and follow me.
Complete the way of the cross we have walked together today’.