Mark seems unaware of Zechariah 9:9 (see Gundry 1975:197-98), but Matthew and John, the Gospels bearing the most Palestinian flavor and most apt to recognize the source of the allusion, explicitly cite this text. Although later teachers and probably Jesus' contemporaries regarded this prophecy as messianic (b. Sanhedrin 98a; 99a; Gen. Rab. 75:6; Edgar 1958:48-49), it was not such a popular text that his first followers need have grasped the full significance of his actions immediately. Jesus was announcing that he was indeed a king, but not a warrior-king (Moule 1965:87; E. Sanders 1993:242). Jesus was the meek one (11:29; 12:18-21; compare 5:5).