The Power of the Crowd

A Reflection on Palm Sunday, John 12:12-19

I have always been afraid of large crowds. There is nothing that can stop an angry mob. When I was thirteen-years-old, a couple of my friends were nearly killed by an angry mob. One day after classes were done, a group of teenagers attacked my friends outside their school. They tried their best to defend themselves as they were punched, kicked, and stabbed. When my friends realized that there was not a way out, they started running to avoid serious injury. They were afraid for their lives. When the group who attacked them realized that they were not catching up to them, they started yelling, “Thieves! Thieves! Thieves!” as they ran down the street.

Guatemala City can be very violent. There are robbers and pickpockets on the streets. And when somebody gets robed, people attempt to take justice in their own hands. That’s why when people heard that there were thieves being chased, they joined the mob to catch my friends and lynch them. Nobody stopped to ask if my friends were actual thieves. What mattered was the need to come together in righteous unanimity against “the thieves.” The crowd gathered and a couple of dozen people chased them down the street. Thankfully, my friends were able to escape and survived the attack with minor scratches and bruises.

This story makes me think about the power of the crowd, specifically the crowds that gather against a person or a group that is vulnerable. In the text for Palm Sunday, we see Jesus walking through a multitude of people. They are chanting and celebrating the arrival of their Messiah. The buildup of the story makes it seem as if the crowd will grab Jesus and crown him king by force. This leads the Pharisees to realize that there is something going on that is beyond their control. They say to one another: “See, this is getting us nowhere. The whole world has gone after him!”

Jesus’ entrance to Jerusalem opens a door that will not be closed until he is crucified. The portal that’s unlocked leads the multitude to move from excitement and triumphant cheers to becoming an angry mob asking for the arrest and execution of Jesus. The group of people who wants to crown him king is the same mob that asks Pilate for his crucifixion a few days later. The crowd becomes so powerful that even Jesus’ closest disciples join the mob to save their lives. Peter denies Jesus, and the rest of the disciples are nowhere to be seen. They get mixed with everybody else.

For many years, I believed that the entrance to Jerusalem text was about Jesus being the King of Kings. However, it seems that there is something else in the background. The beginning of the passion narrative starts unveiling something. It reveals how quickly the power of the crowd can lead us into violence. For this reason, we see two things happening during holy week. First, we see humanity’s violence unveiled. Jesus was killed by humans who gathered over and against a common enemy. Secondly, we see God untangling Godself from human violence.

As the week goes on, we will realize that it was humanity who asked for Jesus’ execution, not God. Humanity separated Jesus from the Father, not God. The earth shook because of our violence, not because of God’s wrath being appeased. I believe that Jesus is inviting us to see how prone we are to join the power of the crowd. He does so to show us that God is not involved with nor asking for our violence.

As we walk with Jesus towards the cross, I want to invite you to think about a few questions. How have you experienced the power of the crowd? Was the crowd against you, or were you with the crowd against somebody else? This can be a small crowd trying to get somebody fired from their job, a little gossip against somebody in our communities, or it can be coming together to intentionally exclude somebody we don’t like. Finally, in what ways is Jesus inviting you to resist the power of the crowd? Leave a comment with your response to these questions in the comment section below so we can keep the conversation going.

If you want to dive deeper in how the power of the crowd works, get a copy of my book A Human Catechism.