Following the Crowd
It is amazing to me that this is the same crowd that three days earlier were laying palm fronds in front of Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem. What happened?
Anyone will tell you that crowd dynamics is a strange and interesting thing. If you have ever seen a riot or protest that gets out of control, you can see pretty fast that just one instigator, can turn a crowd of individuals who on their own might not act a certain way into killers. So what did happen? I believe that when Jesus did not do what this crowd expected, they got angry. They expected a king who would help with the overthrow of Rome, not a KING who would save them. A little short sighted but in their defense, the leaders that were tasked with teaching and leading, were failing to do the job, and that leads to the other reason. The leaders were jealous of Jesus, and I also believe were afraid of exposure for their deeds. Greed and fear are powerful motivators. If you don't believe me, look at our history of dictators and politicians. They used their positions of power and influence to instigate the actions that occurred that day, but little did they know that they were acting in concert with a plan that had been put into action since man first sinned. At any point any one of them could have backed out and any one of them could have been the voice of reason in a world gone insane - Would it have mattered? It may have not stopped the crucifixion, but it could and I believe would have changed the course of their lives. For one minute imagine that you are in the crowd yelling for the crucifixion. Now imagine, when Jesus dies and the curtain is torn in the temple. Imagine three days later you see him raised from the dead. What would you be thinking then? Following the crowd can lead to regret in many ways. And why do we follow the crowd? Out of fear, fear of standing up for our beliefs? Fear of ridicule? Fear of being alone? While those may be painful situations, the consequences of following the crowd in this situation, led to the crucifixion of the savior. You don't know what the consequences will be, so if you are going with the crowd, make sure the crowd is doing something you can live with.
Created 7 months ago
