Fortunately, indirect evidence bearing on Clement’s knowledge of this gospel exists but has been mostly overlooked. The lack of external corroboration for this gospel has made the spectre of forgery particularly hard to dispel. We first learned of a letter of Clement of Alexandria “to Theodore” and of the “mystic” Gospel of Mark that it quotes in 1958, when Morton Smith catalogued a manuscript (Mar Saba 65) that constitutes the only extant evidence for both these works. Unique elements such as these cannot be understood by reading John's account with 'synoptic lenses.' A fresh reading within the larger context of the gospel is necessary for appreciating why John has chosen to tell the story in this way, and what he intends for his readers to understand through it (20:30-31). Jesus then responds to the crowd by finding a donkey and sitting upon it (12:14). Rather, the crowd comes out to meet him from Jerusalem waving palm fronds (12:12-13).

There are no people marching in alongside Jesus, laying down garments and branches before him. It is not followed by the cleansing of the temple (2:13-22). John's account is brief (12:12-16), and lacks the preparatory work of the disciples dispatched to find the donkey. But there are few other similarities when comparing the Johannine version to the synoptic accounts. In every case, a crowd is there acclaiming him with words from Ps 118.

All four canonical Gospels recount Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey in the days preceding his passion.

Raising of lazarus definition