Lenten Season · Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord: Procession of the Palms · Year A
Matthew 21:1-11
The Triumphal Entry
March 29, 2026
Overview & Insights
“Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey.” (Matthew 21:5)
Jesus enters Jerusalem in kingly fashion (21:1–11), opening a new section of Matthew focused on Jesus’ ministry to crowds and confrontations with Jewish leaders in Jerusalem (chaps. 21–23). Matthew ties the preceding healing of two blind men (20:29–34) and this Jerusalem entry together by emphasizing Jesus as the “Son of David” in both (20:30–31; 21:9). After an extended section featuring Jesus and his disciples (16:21–20:28), the crowds reappear in these passages (20:29; 21:9, 11). Matthew distinguishes the Jerusalem crowds that ask about Jesus’ identity from the Galilean crowd that accompanies Jesus into the city. In terms of that identity, Matthew emphasizes that Jesus’ kingship (explicated by Zech. 9:9) promotes a peaceable and humble reign (21:5).
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Why does the one-year lectionary open Advent with Palm Sunday's text?
The historic Advent 1 Gospel is the Triumphal Entry, setting the season's theme at the start: the King comes to his people gently, fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy, and the church cries Hosanna to welcome him.
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