(Jn 12:12-16)

John 12:12 The next day, the great crowd that had come for the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

John 12:13 took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting:

Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,

the King of Israel!

John 12:14 And Jesus found a donkey, and mounted upon it, as it is written:

John 12:15 Fear not, daughter of Zion!

Behold, thy king cometh,

sitting on a donkey's colt.

V. 12 describes the crowd as those who "had come for the feast", and here "heard" that "Jesus is coming to Jerusalem". The coming of Jesus is described in the Greek text with a verb in the present indicative tense ('comes') and it is the same verb with which he is acclaimed in v. 13: 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord', an expression that had messianic meanings. It is a crowd "come for the feast", therefore of the Jewish faith, but only after "hearing" did they "go out" to meet Jesus. The crowd came out of Jerusalem to meet Jesus who was coming from nearby Bethany, which was about three kilometres away. This movement out of Jerusalem where the Jewish Passover was celebrated, to meet the coming Jesus, is representative of the movement of the Judeo-Christians, who would leave Judaism to embrace the new faith.

If v. 12 describes the crowd's movement towards Jesus, v. 13 indicates what the crowd had understood and believed about Jesus: "they took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, 'Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel!". The scene that is described here by John closely recalls the welcome that the crowd reserved for the Maccabees who triumphantly entered Jerusalem, reconsecrating the temple and the city, desecrated by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, defeated after three years of hard fighting (167-164 BC). Here too the crowd amidst singing, playing and waving palm branches welcomed their deliverers (1 Mac 13:51; 2 Mac 10:7).

John's indication of the crowd waving palm branches (John is the only one who mentions the event and is therefore significant of the author's intentions) is perhaps an allusion to Maccabean nationalism, thus denouncing his understanding of the figure of Jesus and his messianism in a political and military sense. The palm tree, after all, as an emblem of national independence and liberation, also appeared on coins minted during the second Jewish revolt (132-135 AD): 

The shouting of the crowd also seems to go in the direction of a political-military understanding of Jesus. The expression "Hosanna!" comes from the Aramaic "hōša'-nâ" (ebr. hōšī'āh-nâ), meaning "Save!". It was a supplication to Yahweh addressed by the pilgrims who had come to the Temple, to which the priests, at the entrance to the sanctuary, responded by invoking blessing upon them. But the word also had another application: it was used by the subject when addressing his king, recognising his saving power, and so over time it took on a messianic significance, indicating the Messiah as 'the one who is to come' or 'the one who is to come'.

A messianic title therefore referred to Jesus whose nationalistic and political meaning is defined by the appellation 'king of Israel'. Here Jesus is not acclaimed 'king of the Jews', which would have been reductive, referring to a simple historical context, the present one. The reference to "king of Israel" amplifies the historical and theological scope, referring to the entire history of Israel with all the promises, the Patriarchs, the Covenant and the Prophets attached. A king would thus be the synthesis and summit of all this, imprinting even more the nationalistic sense of this title.

Vv. 14-15 constitute Jesus' response to the nationalistic and military-political understanding the Jews had of him: "Jesus found a donkey and mounted it, as it is written: 'Fear not, daughter of Zion! Behold, your king comes, sitting on a donkey's colt'. Unlike the synoptic accounts that precede the sitting of Jesus on the donkey by a long narration that hints at the presence of a divine plan being realised, John, in his essentiality, aims to make the true nature of Jesus' kingship immediately clear. So we go to the essentials: Jesus finds a donkey colt and climbs on it. Everything here is simple, straightforward, there is no narrative or turns of phrase, there is nothing to prove but the sense of his kingship.

By the use of the humble mount Jesus intended to prevent a false interpretation of his messianic gesture, which was not political and triumphalist in nature. The quotation from Zech 9:9: "Behold, your king comes..." is modified by John. He prefaces the quotation with the phrase: 'Fear not'. This is probably an allusion to the prophecy of Zeph 3:16, where the prophet speaks of Yahweh's presence in the midst of Jerusalem as king to "gather the lost" (Zeph 3:19). Through the coming of Jesus, God visits his people, gathers them from their dispersion and draws them to himself, and will shepherd them as a shepherd shepherds his sheep, for whom he is about to lay down his life. 

In Jerusalem, the time of confusion and spiritual chaos is coming to an end, and there is a return to the ancient love for the Lord, for from now on it will be guided on the pastures of justice and righteousness, of love and truth; with the messianic king, it will be led back to its God. This is the mission of the king of Israel, of the one who is to come, indeed who is coming. The king sent by God to his people is to lead his people to God. The kingdom that the coming king will establish and consolidate will not be a political kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom; it will not only concern Israel, but every man will be able with him to become the Israel of God 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation - exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

(Buyable on Amazon)