On Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a young donkey while crowds spread cloaks and branches on the road and shouted, “Hosanna!” In Mark 11:1-11, Jesus deliberately fulfills Zechariah’s prophecy of a humble king coming to Jerusalem. The crowds celebrated him as the one who would restore David’s kingdom. But within a week, many of the same voices would shout, “Crucify him!” Palm Sunday reveals that Jesus is King, just not the kind of king people expected.
Setting the Scene in Mark 11:1-11
This passage marks a major turning point in Mark’s Gospel. For ten chapters, Jesus has been traveling around Galilee and surrounding regions, often telling people to keep quiet about who he was. Now he arrives in Jerusalem, and everything moves into the open. Mark devotes six of his sixteen chapters to Jesus’ final week. Clearly, this is where the story has been heading all along.
It was the week before Passover, the festival celebrating God’s rescue of Israel from Egypt. The first-century historian Josephus estimated that hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of pilgrims packed into Jerusalem during Passover. The air was thick with hope that God would rescue his people again, this time from Rome. Roman soldiers were on high alert.
A Carefully Planned Arrival
Jesus didn’t just stumble into Jerusalem. He planned his entrance.
Mark 11:1-6 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’” They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.
Bethphage and Bethany were villages on the Mount of Olives, just east of Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives itself was significant. The prophet Zechariah said that on the day of the Lord, God would stand on the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4). Jews expected the Messiah to appear there.
Jesus sent two disciples to find a colt that had never been ridden. Some see this as supernatural foreknowledge. Others think Jesus had arranged it ahead of time with the owner. Either way, Jesus was in control. Animals that had never been used were considered especially suitable for sacred purposes (Numbers 19:2; 1 Samuel 6:7). The phrase “The Lord needs it” is the only time in Mark that Jesus refers to himself as “Lord.”
Riding Into Jerusalem
When the colt arrived, the celebration began.
Mark 11:7-10 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
Up to this point, Jesus had walked everywhere. Pilgrims normally entered Jerusalem on foot. Riding into the city was a deliberate, symbolic act. Matthew and John make the connection explicit by quoting the prophet Zechariah (Matthew 21:5; John 12:15).
Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
In the ancient world, a king riding a warhorse came for battle. A king riding a donkey came in peace. Jesus was claiming to be the king, but a humble king who came to make peace. Spreading cloaks on the road was a way of honoring royalty. When Jehu was declared king of Israel, people spread their cloaks under his feet (2 Kings 9:13). The branches recall the celebration when Judas Maccabeus cleansed and rededicated the temple about 160 years earlier. John’s Gospel tells us they were palm branches, a symbol of Jewish national victory (John 12:13). That’s where we get the name Palm Sunday.
Hosanna!
The crowd’s shouts came from Psalm 118, one of the songs pilgrims sang on their way to Jerusalem for the festivals. “Hosanna” is a Hebrew phrase that means “Save us, please!” (Psalm 118:25). Over time, it became a shout of praise, something like “Hooray!” But its original meaning still fit perfectly. The crowds were asking Jesus to save them.
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (Psalm 118:26) was a traditional welcome for pilgrims, but on this day it took on new meaning. The crowd added, “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” They believed Jesus was the Son of David, as Bartimaeus had just declared (Mark 10:47), and they expected him to restore Israel’s kingdom. The problem was that most of them were looking for a political and military savior who would kick out the Romans. Jesus came to save them from something far worse: sin and death.
An Anticlimactic Ending
Mark ends the scene in a surprising way.
Mark 11:11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
After all the excitement, Jesus went into the temple, looked around at everything, and left. No speech, no miracle, no uprising. It’s almost anticlimactic. But Jesus’ look was not casual. He was inspecting the temple, and he didn’t like what he saw. The next day, he would come back and overturn the tables (Mark 11:12-25). The prophet Malachi had said that the Lord would “suddenly come to his temple” and purify it (Malachi 3:1-3). That’s exactly what Jesus was about to do.
Jesus spent the nights of this week in Bethany, perhaps with his friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (John 12:1-2), walking the two miles into the city each day.
From the Highs to the Lows
Palm Sunday is one of the great highs of Jesus’ ministry. The crowds were cheering, and everything seemed to be going his way. But Jesus knew what was coming. He had predicted three times that he would be rejected and killed in Jerusalem (Mark 10:33-34). He rode into the city knowing that the shouts of “Hosanna” would soon turn into shouts of “Crucify him!” (Mark 15:13-14).
Jesus wasn’t swept up in the popularity of the moment, and he didn’t run from the pain that was coming. He stayed focused on his Father’s mission, through both the highs and the lows.
What This Means for Us
Like the Palm Sunday crowds, it’s easy to follow Jesus when we think he’ll give us what we want. But when he doesn’t fit our expectations, our praise can quickly fade. The question Palm Sunday asks is whether we want Jesus as he really is, or a version of Jesus who serves our agenda.
Jesus is the King, but his kingdom comes through humility, sacrifice, and peace, not force. He still comes to us gently, inviting us to welcome him not just with shouts of praise, but with lives surrendered to him through every high and low.
The Takeaway
What happened on Palm Sunday? Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt, fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy of a humble king, while crowds shouted “Hosanna!” They wanted a political savior, but Jesus came to save them from sin and death. He is the King we need, even when he isn’t the king we expect.
