Jesus goes into Jerusalem
12 The next day, a large crowd of people were in Jerusalem for the festival. They heard the news that Jesus was on the way there. 13 So they took branches from palm trees and they went out to meet Jesus. They were shouting, ‘We praise God! May the Lord God bless the king who comes with his authority. May he bless the king of Israel!’ 14 Jesus found a young donkey, and he sat on it. This happened in the way that was written in the Bible long ago:
15 ‘Do not be afraid, you people in Zion.
Look! Your king is coming.
He is riding on a young donkey.’
12:15See Zechariah 9:9. Zechariah the prophet told Israel's people that their king would ride on a donkey. Jesus was showing the people that he was that king. 16 Jesus' disciples did not understand all this at that time. They understood only after Jesus had returned to God in heaven. Then they remembered that someone had written these things about him in the Bible. And they remembered that these things had now really happened to him. 17 The crowd that had been with Jesus before at Bethany continued to tell people about Lazarus. They said, ‘Jesus told Lazarus that he should come out of the hole in the rock. He made Lazarus alive again after he had died and his body had been put in there.’ 18 That is why many people came to meet Jesus. They had heard that he had done this miracle. 19 So the Pharisees said to each other, ‘This is not what we wanted. Look! All the people in the world have left us to go with him!’
12:19Jesus was not the kind of king that the Pharisees wanted. They wanted a leader who would send all the Romans away. They did not want a man who would help them to know God.
