All four canonical Gospels describe Jesus entering Jerusalem shortly before his arrest, riding a donkey while crowds greeted him, spreading cloaks and, according to some accounts, palm or leafy branches on the road before him, and calling out words of praise associated with royal and messianic acclamation, including cries of Hosanna. The Synoptic Gospels describe Jesus sending disciples ahead to procure the donkey, in Matthew's account specifically a donkey and its colt, a detail scholars connect to Matthew's characteristic practice of citing Hebrew Bible prophecy in connection with events in Jesus's life.
The crowds' enthusiasm, presented across the Gospels as substantial and public, stands in sharp narrative contrast to the events that follow within days, Jesus's arrest, trial and crucifixion, a juxtaposition each Gospel writer appears to use deliberately to underscore both the scale of popular acclaim Jesus received and the speed and severity of its reversal.
The episode marks the opening of what Christian tradition calls Holy Week, the final period of Jesus's earthly ministry as narrated in the Gospels, encompassing the Last Supper, his arrest, trial, crucifixion and, in Christian belief, his resurrection on Easter Sunday.