Fr Mark Schultz

Dear Friend,

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Psalm 118:26a

In our reading from Luke today, the Gospeller narrates for us Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, the entry we celebrate every year on Palm Sunday. In the midst of the story, Luke (and Matthew and Mark!) puts into the mouth of the assembled crowds an acclamation that is some version of Psalm 118:26, which here is “Blessed is the king who comes in the Name of the Lord!”

This quotation from Psalm 118 is hugely resonant—the Psalm (which I urge you to check out) is a liturgical dialogue between the king, the congregation, and the priests. The first 4 verses are something of an introductory litany, after which we hear the voice of the king praising God for victory over a dangerous and deadly enemy (verses 5-15). The people then proclaim God’s triumph (verse 16), and the king’s voice is heard once more as he approaches the temple and asks to enter to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving (verses 17-19). At this point in the Psalm, a voice (probably that of the priests) declares that only the righteous may enter the temple (verse 20) and the king responds with a word of praise to God (verse 21). The people then acclaim the marvelousness of God’s saving help (verses 22-25) and the priests respond with “Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord; we bless you from the house of the Lord” and give instruction as to how the sacrifice will proceed (“ form a procession with branches to the horns of the altar”) (verses 26-27). The king, now standing within the temple grounds declares to God, “You are my God, and I will thank you; you are my God, and I will exalt you” (verse 28) and a group of people (perhaps both congregation and priests) answer, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his mercy endures for ever” (verse 29) which suggests that the celebration would continue with Psalm 136 given that 136 begins with an identical verse and suggests a litany between a leader and a congregation in the midst of a celebratory rite.

Why go into all this detail about Psalm 118? Well, a couple reasons. One is that the evangelists are telling us something about how they understand Jesus’ life and work—just as the king in the Psalm is declaring victory over an adversary, so Jesus enters Jerusalem having exorcised demons and cured the sick, bringing healing and wholeness to his community. Jesus is declaring victory here over the forces of death, pointing to his healing ministry on the one hand and to the cross and resurrection on the other! The next act in his ministry (in Matthew, Mark and Luke) will be to go to the temple, like the king in the Psalm…because, the evangelists are telling us, Jesus is the King!

But there’s a second reason why Psalm 118 is important here, and it’s a liturgical reason. When we declare during the liturgy, “Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord,” we’re not just saying something nice about people who arrive in our midst and do good things in God’s name, nor are we affirming (however true it might be) that those who come in God’s name are blessed. We’re saying something profound and specific about what is going on in our liturgy: we’re literally welcoming the King of Kings and Lord of Lords into the temple, just as the priests welcomed the king in Psalm 118, just as the people welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem. Through these words, we’re anticipating meeting the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in his Risen and Eucharistic presence there in the Bread and Wine of the Sacrament.

The drama of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension plays out every time the Eucharist is celebrated, not just notionally or metaphorically or poetically, but actually. The liturgy opens us out to the Reality of Jesus Christ and we, standing or sitting or kneeling before the altar, discover ourselves of a sudden standing, sitting, kneeling, singing, acclaiming, praising, repenting, adoring with the shepherds at the manger; sitting with the disciples listening to Jesus teach; standing with the lepers and receiving healing; aching, weeping, soul-sick and heart-worn with Mary at the foot of the cross; racing to the empty tomb with Peter; and reaching forth our hand, with Thomas, to touch the Heart of the Risen One.

It is no trifling thing to say “Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord.” It’s a confession of the Reality that is and is coming-to-be on our altars and in our hearts!

Under the Mercy,
Fr Mark+