Mark 11:1–11
1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples 2 and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’ ”
4 And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. 5 And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go.
7 And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 8 And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. 9 And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”
11 And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
When Jesus comes into Jerusalem he does so by way of the Mount of Olives. The Mount of Olives rests just outside the city and rises over 300 feet above the city. Ezekiel notes that when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586 BCE that the glory of the Lord departed from the city and rested on the Mount of Olives (Ezek. 11:23). This could be a veiled reference to Ezekiel's vision.
In sending the disciples to acquire the colt Jesus demonstrates his foreknowledge of events to come and the significance of this moment. The donkey colt is said to be the mount of the Messiah in Zechariah 9:9. Here Zechariah explicitly says that the king of Israel would come humbly, riding on a donkey, not on a war horse or a chariot as would be the customary symbol of power. It is likely that the people simply didn't get it at this time.
This whole narrative carries a very authoritative, kingly tone. No other person was allowed to ride on the king's mount. Hence the specific requirement to find a colt "on which no one has ever sat." Jesus tells the disciples to simply tell the owner that "The Lord has need of it...". The people throwing their coats on the ground before him suggests the ceremonious welcome of a king. The shouts of the people recall Psalm 118:25-26 almost exactly. This Psalm isn't Messianic in nature, however. Instead it simply describes a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The term "Hosanna" is a Hebrew term that literally means "save us, we pray" but in Jesus' day it was likely used more broadly as a general acclamation of praise.
The people's statements aren't overtly Messianic in nature, but there is a lot of subtle hints of the crowd thinking him to be the Messianic king. The "coming kingdom of our father David" could be Messianic in nature if applied specifically to Jesus or it could simply be a general proclamation. Mark leaves it vague. Luke's account (Lk 19:29-44) describes the Pharisees telling Jesus to silence the crowd, likely in fear of the Romans recognizing this as the beginning of a possible uprising. In Matthew's account they refer to Jesus as the Son of David, which is a more overt Messianic expression.
The interesting part of Mark's account is the anticlimactic ending. One would expect Jesus to come in and immediately begin doing ministry as he had done up till now. Instead he goes to the temple, looks around and leaves. After the exuberance of the crowd upon his entry, the sudden dispersion is rather shocking. Yet again, it displays Jesus' attempts to dispel their false understandings of the Messiah. He came in humility, not as a conquering king. His glory is not in his popularity and acceptance of the crowd but in his suffering being hung on a cross.