The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness. The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. The description of Jesus approaching Jerusalem in John's Gospel is heavy with the inevitable. Palm branches, a cheering crowd. Even if we didn't know this story, the seething anger of the Pharisees foreshadows how it will end.
Scriptures can seem obscure and contradictory, puzzling and hopelessly deep.
A rabbi friend of mine cautioned that they were not to be read but carefully studied. I teased him once about how he seemed to know everything that went on in the community though he seldom left his study. It's there for us to discover, and the scripture that confounds us is sometimes blindingly clear. As always, the story doesn't end with God's anger but with his compassion. Inevitably, we will have weeks dark with foreboding, times of confusion and fear.