What does Mark 11:10 mean?

Hosanna is one of the few Hebrew words used in the New Testament. It is an entreaty for deliverance or a celebration that salvation is coming. Despite the rich young ruler's search for eternal life (Mark 10:17–22), most Jews speak of "deliverance" in a political, earthly sense, as in from their Gentile oppressors.

While the people are celebrating the arrival of the Messiah and the imminent return of David's kingdom, Jesus mourns. He prophesies that Jerusalem will be besieged on all sides, the people scattered or destroyed, and the stones torn down, all because the people don't understand who the Messiah is and what He has come to do (Luke 19:41–44). Later, Jesus will tell the disciples that the temple will be torn down, stone by stone (Luke 21:5–6).

Jesus' words came to life in AD 70 when Titus and Tiberius Julius Alexander squashed rebellious Jews who took control of the city in AD 66. In the ensuing struggle the temple caught fire and burned so hot that the gold ornaments melted into the cracks between the stonework. In order to ransack the gold, Roman soldiers literally ripped the stones apart. Josephus, the Jewish historian, records, "…but for all the rest of the wall, it was so thoroughly laid even with the ground by those that dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited" (Flavius Josephus; The Judean War; Book 7, Chapter 1; Section 1).

Hosanna, literally "save us, please!", is an appropriate cry, although the crowd doesn't understand why. For the time being, the people expect Jesus to gather the nation to rebel against Rome, force out the pagan Gentile oppressors, and bring in the kingdom of David. This will happen, but not yet. The Jews are angry that they are separated from their promised glory, but Jesus is more concerned that they, and the world, are separated from God. The exultant Jewish crowd does not need to be saved from Rome but from their sins which will lead them to hell. By the end of the week, thorns will be Jesus' crown, and a cross His throne. What some see as the failed promises to Abraham (Genesis 12:1–3), Moses (Deuteronomy 29), and David (2 Samuel 7) becomes the fulfilled promise God made to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:15).