Are You Running With a Crowd

John 12:12-16

            This passage of Scripture is traditionally used on Palm Sunday to preach or teach about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem with the focus on Jesus.  Today I want us to turn our attention to the crowd.

            In John 11 we read about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.  The crowd present for that event became very excited.  Some of them believed but others told the religious leaders who began to make plans to kill Jesus.  Jesus, therefore, secluded himself in the country with his disciples for several days.

            As the crowd began to gather in and around Jerusalem for the Passover festival, a common topic of conversation was the raising of Lazarus.  The people began to discuss the possibility of the miracle worker coming to the Passover.  The more this was discussed the more enthused the crowd became.  Their anticipation heightened until finally word came that Jesus was coming!  The crowd started a great celebration to welcome Jesus.  The crowd did great things for Jesus and shouted some good and true things.  But, were their motives and conclusions correct?

            The crowd excitedly waved palm branches to welcome Jesus.  Did this have any religious significance?  It seems to have been more of a nationalistic symbol.  Judea used palm branch symbols on textiles and coins.  After Simon Maccabee defeated the Greeks he was greeted by excited crowds waving palm branches.  So the crowd on that Passover day showed their hope for a political, military, national Messiah.  They thought Jesus was going to rid them of the Romans.

            The crowd also shouted, “Hosanna!”  Taken from Psalm 118:25 the word means “give salvation now”.  Did the crowd want salvation from sin or salvation from the Romans?  I think their concern on that day was the Romans. 

            The crowd continued its praise of Jesus by quoting from the next verse of Psalm 118.  “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”  This is a true Old Testament reference to the coming Messiah and no doubt the crowd believed Jesus was that Messiah.  However, the crowd added their own title to Jesus which did not come from the verse they were quoting.  “The King of Israel” again shows they were thinking of a military Messiah who would defeat the Romans and be their King.  In the midst of the nationalistic fervor of the crowd John mentions an amazing thing that Jesus did.  He rode into the city on a donkey colt!  The image Jesus wanted to portray was not that of a conquering hero.  He was trying to tell the crowd that their expectations of a military Messiah was wrong at this time.  John quotes a portion of Zechariah 9:9 that prophesized of Messiah’s unexpected mount.  The passage goes on to tell of a gentle ruler who will usher in a period of peace and freedom – at the price of his own blood.

            Jesus’ own disciples did not even understand everything that was happening until after His resurrection.

            Being part of a crowd is exciting.  We all love the big crowds at church on Easter – or on any other day.  It is easy to get caught up in the excitement.  Look at a crowd at a football game! The crowd was definitely excited as Jesus entered Jerusalem.  They cheered on their deliverer.

            As is common with crowd assessments, crowd judgments, crowd conclusions – they were wrong.  There is an old saying:  “Put it to a vote and they will always vote to go back to Egypt.”  There is something about the anonymity of crowd decisions, the headstrong energy of the pack that makes wrong decisions seem so right, bad choices seem so flawless, cruel actions seem so sensible. 

            Time and again in Scripture when the crowd spoke and its majority vote was taken, it was a big mistake:

1.      Adam and Eve’s fateful Garden decision. (They were a majority)

2.      Building of the tower of Babel.

3.      Noah stood against the whole world.

4.      The crowd pressured Aaron to make the golden calf.

5.      Joshua and Caleb’s report was outvoted.

6.      Gideon stood in the minority against his home town.

7.      Electing Saul as king.

8.      Absalom “stole the hearts of the people”.

9.      Elijah against a crowd of Baal’s prophets.

10.  Jesus’ disciples fled.

11.  And perhaps the worst crowd decision ever made.  The crowd’s answer to Pilate’s choice:  “We want Barabbas!”

Jesus was crucified by majority vote, by a crowd mentality.

Did a crowd mentioned in Scripture ever get it right?  It seems that in a crowd the

discernment of any single mind becomes stretched into distortions of the truth.  Flaws and imperfections seem to become magnified by the mass of a crowd mind leading to an explosion of error, misconception and just plain falsehood.

            How did there get to be such a large crowd following Jesus into Jerusalem?

1.      A few knew about the raising of Lazarus.

2.      They told others with some editorializing.

3.      These told others who did not hear everything correctly.

4.      Before long the whole crowd thought Jesus was going to start a revolt.

            How was it that the crowd turned against Jesus so quickly?  They were crying “Hosanna” one day and 4 or 5 days later crying “Crucify him!”  It was because their contrived conclusions and expectations were not met.  Not because Jesus changed. 

            We can also fall victim to crowd mentality today.  We run into crowds at preacher coffees, church, association meetings, seminaries.  Now, all of these can and do offer good things.  But, we must always be alert.  Never accept anything as fact just because it came from the crowd you run with.  Never abdicate your power to think to a crowd.  Think and study for yourself.  Be like the Bereans that Paul mentioned in Acts.  They studied the Scripture to see if what they heard was true.  Truth is found in Jesus not in crowds.  Jesus said, “I am the truth.” 

            Crowds can be easily manipulated by persuasive people.  Dictators rise to power because crowds allow them.  Crowds are fickle.  The crowd changed its mind quickly about Jesus.  It has always amazed me how quickly the sentiment of a crowd can change at an ABA meeting.  The messengers can vote to do a thing; someone can make a passionate speech and the crowd then vote to do the opposite thing.  It is easy for the members of a crowd to let someone do their thinking for them.  Men who understand this can manipulate crowds at meetings.

            In our associated work we have “liberals,” “moderates,” “conservatives,” and “ultra conservatives”.  I am afraid many join up with these crowds, not because they have thought through their beliefs, but because they like the crowd or the leaders of it.  Remember, crowds rarely get it right.  Truth is rarely found in crowds.

            Jesus didn’t come for the crowd.  He came for each and every one of us individually.  Truth is not found in crowd mentality, it is found in the person, Jesus.

            We can only manage to keep ourselves beyond the reach of crowd mentality by maintaining a close, intimate fellowship with Jesus.  We cannot even find all the truth we need in a Sunday morning crowd.  Church is great.  Worshiping with a crowd is exciting.  But, real spiritual maturity does not come from the crowd.  It can only come from one on one time with Jesus and His Word. Let Jesus shape your mind, not a crowd.

            You are not in a popularity contest.  You do not have to please a certain crowd.  Just live to please your Father. 

            Are you following the will of God?  Or are you just running in a crowd.  Dare to be a Daniel.  Dare to stand for the truth you find in Jesus.

            Truth isn’t found in running with crowds.  Truth is only found in intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ and His Word.