Jesus was performing many signs and wonders. The raising of Lazarus from the dead capped it off. Six days before Passover he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey with a massive crowd putting palm branches on the ground and hailing him as King of Israel. This sent the religious leaders over the edge. 
Jesus is King (i.e., He is in control of God’s government and God’s world). The people recognized it. They shouted it out at the top of their lungs. The leaders wanted him dead. We know who got their way in the short run. But God had a plan. He used if for His glory.
God had a plan to bring us to Him even thought we miss His goal (sin) for our life. He still does. Jesus would die to reconcile the difference between our missing God’s goal and living out His plan. He died. He was resurrected. He ascended into heaven where He is now King (in charge of God’s government).
The next day the huge crowd that had arrived for the Feast heard that Jesus was entering Jerusalem. They broke off palm branches and went out to meet him. And they cheered: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in God’s name! Yes! The King of Israel!
Jesus got a young donkey and rode it, just as the Scripture has it: No fear, Daughter Zion: See how your king comes, riding a donkey’s colt.
The disciples didn’t notice the fulfillment of many Scriptures at the time, but after Jesus was glorified, they remembered that what was written about him matched what was done to him.
The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, was there giving eyewitness accounts. It was because they had spread the word of this latest God-sign that the crowd swelled to a welcoming parade. The Pharisees took one look and threw up their hands: “It’s out of control. The world’s in a stampede after him.”
via John 12:12-19 (The Message Bible)
