Mark 11:9-10

‘And those who went in front, and those who followed, cried, “Hosanna (‘save now’)! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingly rule that comes, of our father David. Hosanna in the highest.”

These cries are mainly taken from Psalms 118:0. ‘Hoshi‘ah na’ - save now’ (Psalms 118:25). ‘Blessed be He Who comes in the name of the Lord’ (Psalms 118:26). These were extracts from a Psalm used at the Passover, and were regularly shouted out at visitors to Jerusalem at the Passover as they streamed into the city. Year after year the same had been done, and the coming of that kingly rule had been seen as being as far away as ever. But it was always a time of enthusiasm and fervour. And at such times there was always hope. Patriotic passions were aroused. And here it reached a deeper intensity because they saw Jesus as a great prophet, and many of them were disciples. But His entry on an ass helped to dampen Messianic expectations. Zechariah 9:9 was not a favourite Messianic passage, for the Jews did not look for a lowly king.

The words of the crowd are presented in a balanced format.

a “Hosanna!”

b “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

b “Blessed is the kingly rule of our father David which is coming.”

a “Hosanna in the Highest.”

‘Hosanna’ means ‘save now’. Compare Psalms 118:25. It was a cry to God to bring about His promised deliverance. They little realised that this One Who entered was about to do exactly that but in a way that they could not even have dreamed of.

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’ See Psalms 118:26. All those who came for the feast were seen as coming ‘in the name of the Lord’. We may, however, translate Psalms 118:26 as ‘blessed in the name of the Lord is he who comes’. It was a regular welcome for pilgrims. But this then constantly reminded them that one day a king would come, for ‘he who comes’ was an expression denoting the Messiah (compare Matthew 11:3). So every pilgrim they greeted was a reminder that one day Messiah would come. And who knew whether that one might be he? Indeed Luke renders it, ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord’ (Luke 19:38). Thus the enthusiasm of the crowds and of the disciples turned the thoughts of many to the coming Messiah, which is why they added, ‘Blessed is the kingly rule that comes, of our father David.’ Those who were close to Him, and later very definitely saw Him as the Messiah, would later think of the shouts in those terms. But it seems that they did not at this point in time, for John declared, ‘His disciples did not understand these things at the first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him’ (John 12:16). Thus it would seem that His dampening words to them had squashed, at least temporarily, their false ideas concerning Messianic hopes (Mark 10:32-45; compare Acts 1:6). Once they did understand it, however, that day would be seen as a day to sweep away all gloom.

‘Blessed is the kingly rule that comes, of our father David.’ The people were looking forward in hope to the restoration of the Davidic kingship under the Messiah and all the festivals in which they participated brought this to the fore in their minds. Thus for most this was a cry of hope for the future rather than an anticipation of what Jesus was going to do.

‘Hosanna in the highest.’ Probably a cry to God meaning ‘save now You Who are in the highest’ or something similar. A stereotyped phrase easily shouted by the crowds as one.

We may in passing consider the effects all this excitement would have had on the untrained asses colt. Yet it apparently remained calm throughout, for the One Who rode it had authority over all things.

To summarise then, what are we to make of all this? Firstly we must emphasise it was not a general recognition by all that He was the Messiah. Had it been so it would certainly have been cited at the trial. Of course it may have been, and simply not mentioned in the Gospels, but as they were looking for solid evidence, and this would have been solid evidence if the crowd as a whole had seen Him as the Messiah, it is unlikely. Furthermore if such a crowd had really seen Jesus as the Messiah entering in triumph things would have got totally out of hand, to say nothing of the fact that an excited crowd acclaiming a Messiah would also have caused the Roman soldiers, present in Jerusalem in large numbers at the Passover, to intervene at once.

Outwardly, as Matthew makes clear (Matthew 21:11), this was therefore the welcome of a popular prophet into Jerusalem in the time honoured way, although we need not doubt that there were some in the crowd who would like to have stirred Him into Messianic action. There were very mixed views about Him (John 7:12; John 7:26-27; John 7:31). But that it had not raised great expectations comes out in that He was able quietly to go into the Temple seemingly without the crowd following. Most of them moved on in order to greet more pilgrims, not aware of the deeply significant things that were now happening.

To the closest disciples it was obviously more than this, but they still clearly saw it as puzzling. They knew He was the Messiah because He had virtually said so (Mark 8:29-30), but they also remembered His severe words on the subject of what was to happen to Him and what He had come to do (Mark 8:30-31; Mark 8:34-38; Mark 9:12; Mark 9:30-31; Mark 10:42-45). They must therefore have been in two minds. For they did not then connect what happened here with Zechariah’s prophecy (John 12:16), and it could hardly be seen as a call to rise up in arms. We are left to imagine what their present thinking might have been. They had been warned not to reveal Him as ‘the Messiah’, so they would to some extent be restrained, and yet they were probably both exalted and puzzled at the same time, not knowing what to make of it. However, they would have been to the feast too often to be mistaken about the mood of the crowd and the excited cries. They knew that much of it was mere festal enthusiasm. On the other hand they were aware that Jesus had carefully planned it. What then was He about to do? There can be no doubt it would have raised some kind of expectation in their hearts. That they too, however, did not associate it with Zechariah 9:9 until later, after His resurrection is clear from John’s Gospel (John 12:16).

To Jesus it was a deliberate portrayal to Jerusalem and all who would see it, that He was the King of Peace promised in Zechariah. In a sense He was offering Himself to them, and especially to the leadership, but only if they were willing for their whole approach to God being purified, as He demonstrated by what He did in the Temple. But it was not with any expectations of His being accepted, for He knew perfectly well what was going to happen and was under no illusions about the condition of their hearts, as He has already made clear. He knew that His hour had come (John 13:1). It was all part of His self revelation which to others would later mean more than it did then. He was deliberately and symbolically riding in as One Who would be rejected. Israel and its leaders must have its opportunity of recognition, but as He had been making clear to His disciples, He had no doubt as to what was to come. He knew that He was riding to His death, and all that would follow. Thus this was a prophetic sign, rather than in any sense a real offer.