The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.
This story of Christ's riding in triumph to Jerusalem is recorded by all the evangelists, as worthy of special remark; and in it we may observe, I. The respect that was paid to our Lord Jesus by the common people, Joh 12:12, Joh 12:13, where we are told, 1.
Commenting on John 12:12-19
The Pharisees therefore said among themselves,.... Either when assembled in their own private houses, or in the sanhedrim; or as they stood together in the streets, seeing Jesus pass by in such pomp, and such a multitude with him: perceive ye how ye prevail nothing?
CHRIST'S TRIUMPHAL ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM. (Joh 12:12-19) On the next day--the Lord's day, or Sunday (see on Joh 12:1); the tenth day of the Jewish month Nisan, on which the paschal lamb was set apart to be "kept up until the fourteenth day of the same month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel were to kill it in the evening" (Exo 12:3, Exo 12:6).
Commenting on John 12:12-19