I wonder how many people in the crowd who shouted for Barabbas had also been in the crowd that shouted “Hosanna” a week before.
Crowds had followed Jesus throughout his ministry. Crowds pushed their way into the little house in Capernaum so that the only way a paralyzed man could get to Jesus was to be let down from the roof. Everywhere he went crowds badgered Jesus for more healings, more miracles, more, more, more; often he had to flee out into the middle of the Sea of Galilee in a boat to get some respite. And when he did there would be another crowd waiting when he landed. These were the crowds that the establishment Jews feared would riot if they arrested Jesus in public.
And yet it was the crowd that chose Barabbas over Jesus when asked which one should live and which one would die. This crowd that shouted “Hosanna!” one week shouted “Crucify him!” the next.
Who is in this crowd?
There are six kinds of people in the crowd.
There are the rabble: surplus urban population, mostly idle, discontented, ripe for trouble and entertained by the excitement of a public execution. They care nothing for the purity of Judaism or the charge of blasphemy, but recognize the bandit Barabbas as a kindred spirit.
There are the passionate patriots, who had expected Jesus to free Judea from the Romans and restore Israel to the greatness foretold in the prophets. When they see Jesus bleeding and bound, they are filled with such a sense of disappointment and betrayal of hope that crucifixion feels like justice to them.
There are the religious purists, whom Jesus has outraged from the beginning and for whom this scene is a vindication of the rightness of their cause.
There are a few members of the upper classes, wealthy business people and landowners, who don’t particularly care one way or another who gets crucified but for goodness sake get it over with so that things can get back to normal before the Romans impose martial law. They got caught in the crowd by accident; they have better things to do than waste their time like this.
There are the ordinary folk, Joe Six-Pack (excuse me - Yosef wine-flask) and his wife Naomi and the kids up to the city for the festival. They saw Jesus once and thought he had some good things to say, and hadn’t he healed some people? They shouted with all the others when Jesus came into town, because after all it was a holiday, it was an exciting time, it was fun to wave the branches and call for the promises of God to be fulfilled. But obviously he must have done something wrong, because there he was under arrest with the priests and the governor and everybody saying he was a criminal. So Joe yells a little, too, so as not to be different, but he feels a little uncomfortable and wishes they’d gone another way when they set out that morning.
And there are some who knew Jesus. Susannah and Ben hadn’t been with him last night when he was arrested, but Ben’s brother Ezra had heard from Samuel who was Bartholomew’s wife’s cousin and so, of course, as soon as it was light, they hurried down to the governor’s palace to find out what was going on. They heard Pilate ask, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” And they waited fearfully for the answer, knowing Jesus’ popularity, praying for the people to choose Jesus. Ben clenches his fist and grinds his teeth helplessly when they yelled for Barabbas; Susannah can feel him tense and tugs on his arm to remind him of the danger. And when Pilate asks, “What do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” the mob begins to chant “Crucify him!” and she gasps and tears spurt from her eyes. Ben hisses at her to stop; she swallows and holds her breath. The crowd begins to move, pushing them roughly along; Susannah trips over the edge of her shawl and almost goes down; they inch slowly to the edge of the square and duck into a dooryard. “What are we going to do?” cries Susannah, “what are we going to do?” And Ben replies, “Nothing. There is nothing we can do. We will go to Ezra’s and wait. Maybe they’ve found out by now what’s happened to Peter and John and the others.”
There were six kinds of people in the crowd.
And there were some who were absent altogether.
Some had already left town.
The crowd in Jerusalem that day was made up of ordinary people, people like you, people like me. There are people who get carried away by the heat of the moment, people who conspire for their enemies' downfall, people who don’t care one way or another about the battle unless it gets in their way, people who go along with the majority, people who are afraid to speak up... Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes saying nothing is the right thing to do. Ben and Susannah were right. There was nothing they could do. They were faithful to the extent of their knowledge and abilities.
My point is, that there were people like us in the crowd. And some of us shouted, “Crucify him,” along with the rest. It takes courage and a clear vision to know when to stand against the crowd.
Sometimes it is not possible to fight the crowd. But it is never necessary to follow it.
