Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that came in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
All Commentaries on Mark 11:10 Go To Mark 11
Jerome
AD 420
This, however, was rather done to honour Him, and as a Sacrament, than of necessity. It goes on: “and they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”.
They cry out Hosanna, that is, save us, that men might be saved by Him who was blessed, and was aconqueror and came in the name of the Lord, that is, of His Father, since the Father is so called because of the Son, and the Son, because of the Father.
Or Hosanna, that is, save "in the highest” as well as in the lowest, that is, that the just be built on the ruin of Angels, and also that both those on the earth and those under the earth should be saved. In a mystical sense, also, the Lord approaches Jerusalem, which is ‘the vision of peace,’ in which happiness remains fixed and unmoved, being, as the Apostle says, the mother of all believers.
The disciples of Christ arecalled two by two, and sent two by two, since charity implies more than one, asit is written, “Woe to him that is alone.” and sing to Him with both mind and spirit.
But “they found the colttied by the door without,” because the Gentile people were bound by the chain of their sins before the door of faith, that is, without the Church. Ambrose, in Luc. 9, 6: Or else, they found it bound before the door, because whosoever is not in Christ is without, in the way; but he who is in Christ, is not without. He has added “in the way,” or “ina place where two ways meet,” where there is no certain possession for any man, not stall, nor food, nor stable; miserable is his service, whose rights are unfixed; for he who has not the one Master, has many. Strangers bind him that they may possess him, Christ looses him in order to keep him, for He knows that gifts are stronger ties than bonds.
Or, in a place where two roads meet, that is, in the freedom of will, hesitating between life and death.
“But some said, What doye?” as if they would say, Who can remit sins?.
Or else, they put upon it their garments, that is, they bring to them the first robe of immortality bythe Sacrament of Baptism. “And Jesus sat upon it,” that is, began to reign inthem, so that sin should not reign in their wanton flesh, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Again, “many spread their garments in the way,” under the feet of the foal of the ass. What are feet, but those who carry, and the least esteemed, whom the Apostle has set to judge? And these too, though they are not the back on which the Lord sat, yet are instructed by John with the soldiers.
“For the righteous shall flourish as a palm tree,” straitened in their roots, but spreading out wide with flowers and fruits; for they are a good odour unto Christ, and strew the way of the commandments of God with their good report. Those who went before are the prophets, and those who followed are the Apostles.
