NOTES for Mar 14:1-72; Mar 15:1-47
Jesus' disciples knew well that the Teacher was under close watch by the Pharisees and the elders. What He preached did not fit into the usual framework of their religious ideas at all. It was simply dangerous for Him to approach Jerusalem. The apostles tried more than once to dissuade the Teacher from coming to that city. Their fears were truly serious, since they thought that going with Him to Jerusalem was the same as going to death.
That is why it is so striking that they so readily and obediently go, at Jesus' request, after the donkey on which He is to enter the city. Most of all, this is connected with the faith in Him as Messiah that spread after the raising of Lazarus, who had been dead four days. It appears to them that at last the very time had come when their Teacher would reveal His true power and manifest the promised Kingdom. Then it becomes clear why they justify themselves to the owners of the donkey without a shadow of doubt, simply saying that the Teacher needs the animal. One can answer like that only if one's master is, at the very least, within five minutes of being a great ruler. And their expectations were fulfilled, but not at all as they thought. For His Kingdom turned out not to be of this world.