A Tale of Two Crowds
Matthew 21:6-11, 27:15-26
March 24, 2002
Introduction
Have you ever seen a mob on TV or movies? They are dangerous, and can become murderous in an instant.
People in mobs are like cattle before a stampede. Ever see that? In the movie Red River, John Wayne and his men are moving cattle along the Chisolm trail, and the cattle are spooked by howling coyotes and such.
Then one of the men, trying to get some sugar, knocks down all the pans off the chuckwagon, and the cattle stampede, killing one of the wranglers watching over them.
Just before they stampeded, the cattle were tense, and the men knew it wouldn’t take much to set them off.
Mobs are like that.
They’re tense, waiting for the slightest provocation to begin destroying whatever and whoever they want.
Mobs are not a good thing, in general.
A crowd might be defined as a “pre-mob” bunch. They may never turn into a mob, but they can be fickle, wondering around like a bunch of sheep, looking for direction.
Today we are going to look at two crowds that formed around Jesus during His last week on earth.
I want to point out the differences between them, and then show you some lessons we can learn from these people.
I want to give you something you can use as you go through life, and as you make decisions about which way to go – following crowd, or standing alone.
Let’s get started, shall we? First I want to look at the crowd…
I. At the Gate.
Turn with me to Matthew 21:6-11. If you’re using the Bibles in the seat, you can turn to page 697, and you will find the beginning of our passage for this section.
The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"
11 The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."
You’ve probably seen movies of the life of Jesus, showing this scene.
The huge crowd is pressing in to see and touch Jesus, praising God for this carpenter who performs miracles and silences the religious leaders.
The crowd was raucous, excited, and happy to see Jesus. In this scene…
*They were hailing Him.
They liked this guy, and my guess is that more than one person was hoping that Jesus would be the one who finally pushed the Romans out of Israel.
They didn’t understand that Christ was coming to establish His kingdom in the hearts of people, not establish a political kingdom.
But that didn’t matter. They saw Jesus and welcomed Him into the city with loud rejoicing.
If opinion polls had been taken back then, I’m sure Jesus’ approval rating would have been in the upper 90’s, percentage-wise, a number most politicians would kill for.
His entrance into Jerusalem marked the beginning of the last week of His life on earth, though no one in the crowd knew that. Given His popularity at that moment, any move to take Him would have met with bloody riots.
The Bible tells us that is precisely why the authorities did not arrest Him.
Anyway, my point here is that this crowd was marked by its overwhelming approval of Jesus.
But within the span of just a very few days, the attitude changed dramatically.
The Bible goes into quite a bit of detail about Jesus’ last days. It tells us that:
He cleared the temple,
Cursed a fig tree,
Told some more parables, two of which really torqued off the Pharisees and religious leaders,
Spoke about paying taxes to Caesar and silenced the Sadducees regarding the resurrection,
Gave the greatest commandment to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves,
Pronounced seven woes, mainly pointed at the Pharisees,
Gave signs about the end of the age,
Spoke about the sheep and the goats,
And celebrated the Passover with His disciples.
Now remember, the Pharisees and scribes already didn’t like Jesus, and now Jesus had taken deadly aim at them and their dead religion of works.
It is no surprise that they now took deliberate action to have Him killed.
And Judas came on the scene to help them do it.
Let’s move on to the next section.
II. At the Palace.
By the time we get to our next crowd, Jesus has been arrested and tried by the Sanhedrin, which is the ruling council of the Jewish leadership.
They find Jesus guilty of blasphemy for claiming to be the Son of God, and look to have Him put to death.
And even though the Law of Moses demanded the death penalty for blasphemy, the Roman government did not allow it to be used – only Rome could sentence someone to death.
Aware of this, the leaders took Jesus to Pilate, and tried to paint Him as a person attempting to undermine the authority of the emperor.
Pilate has questioned Jesus, and found nothing for which to condemn him, and the Bible tells us that Pilate could see that it was out of envy that the Jews were trying to get rid of Jesus.
You see the Scripture passage referenced in your outline, so turn over a few pages to the right to Matthew chapter 27, verses 15-26, which you can find on page 705.
Now it was the governor’s custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. 16 At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas. 17 So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" 18 For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.
19 While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: "Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him."
20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
21 "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor.
"Barabbas," they answered.
22 "What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.
They all answered, "Crucify him!"
23 "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man’s blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"
25 All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"
26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
The crowd just a few days before were hailing him; in this case…
*They were condemning Him.
Whipped into a frenzy by the religious leaders, the crowd that had been praising Him was now calling for His death.
How ironic. They couldn’t get enough of Him earlier, now they couldn’t wait to get rid of Him.
How this must have broken Jesus’ heart! He loved these people so much that He came to redeem them. He knew what that would mean – that He would have to die, shedding His blood for them. But I can’t help but think that His heart grieved to see the people that He loved so much screaming for His death like a bunch of crazed animals.
You know, sometimes we’re a little bit like that. We want all we can get from God, and then when He starts convicting us about something, we get nervous and push Him out of our lives.
Still love me?
Time’s getting tight, so let’s move on to the lessons we can learn from these two crowds.
III. Lessons
A. Don’t let the crowd do your thinking for you.
They say there’s strength in numbers, and in this case they were right. When the crowd really got going, there was no stopping them.
Pilate was defeated in his efforts to sway them.
In our society, we have the same kind of mentality. We think that because the crowd is doing it, it must be right.
Let me tell you, folks, not only is that foolish thinking, it’s flat-out dangerous. If you don’t believe me, look at the millions of people dying all around the world because of foolish choices.
During one summer between college years, I was visiting family members, and had the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with one of them.
This person was involved in what I believe to be a cult, for numerous reasons, and I was hoping that our discussion would shed some light on that idea.
However, during the discussion, she said that her religion had to be right, because “5 million people couldn’t be wrong.”
Folks, there are more Southern Baptists than in her church, and every one of them would tell her that her church was in error. So which do you believe?
The answer does not lie in the numbers. There are billions of people who deny the Lord Jesus Christ. But they are hardly right.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: truth is not determined by opinion polls or majority rule.
Truth is truth, even if only a few believe it. Look at the 12 apostles, a small band facing the might of the Jewish traditions and the Roman Empire.
They were vastly outnumbered, yet they preached the gospel, turning the world upside down.
If you’re letting the crowd do your thinking for you, then you’re admitting that you’re unable to think for yourself.
Do you really want that? Go against the crowd to get to the truth, and stand out because you love God more than popularity.
Don’t let the crowd do your thinking for you. Next…
B. Don’t let “religion” stand in the way of truth.
What do I mean by that?
Let me explain a bit by going back to the Pharisees for a minute.
These guys, and the other religious leaders were so intent on keeping the Law and the traditions that they forgot the God they thought they were serving.
They were going through the motions and their hearts were not in their worship.
Jesus said that Isaiah was right when he prophesied about them, saying that they honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him.
There is a danger in our times to do the same thing.
We can start thinking that coming to church, taking communion, even reading the Bible and praying are the religious “requirements” for God’s favor.
The danger in that is that we start to trust our religious activities rather than in what Christ did for us.
We need to go to church, take communion, read the Bible and pray. We need them to become strong in Christ. But they do not get us to heaven.
We all know people who are trusting in their “religion,” whether it’s their church membership, their repetitious prayers, or whatever, to get them to heaven.
They have let their religion stand in the way of the truth that Christ came to die so they could go to heaven, if they will only call on Him.
Next,…
C. Get convictions, not just opinions.
Opinions can change with the wind, but convictions stay with you through thick and thin.
Convictions are those beliefs that are the bedrock of your life.
For instance, it is my opinion that pizza is the best food on the earth. It’s not my conviction, however. I’m not ready to die for my food preference.
I am ready to die for my conviction that Jesus is the Son of God, and the only way to heaven. And I stake my eternal destiny on it.
How about you? Is your view of Jesus an opinion or a conviction?
The crowd threw their previously high opinion of Jesus out the window when it was convenient.
Convictions are rarely convenient. Convictions mold our lifestyle and our thought processes. They guide how we make decisions.
And they set you apart from the crowd.
Conclusion
I want to wrap up our time this morning by just reminding us that the crowd at the palace did not kill Jesus.
He came to earth for one reason: to lay down His life for you and for me.
Some like to blame the Romans for Jesus’ death, and others like to blame the Jews.
The fact is that neither of them killed Jesus. He laid down His life voluntarily. He did it for you.
And when it comes right down to it, if you want to know who killed Jesus, all you need to do is look in the mirror.
Your sins caused Him to hang on that cross.
Your sins caused Him to suffer, shedding His blood as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
Your sins caused Him to pay the penalty of death.
Your sins. And mine.
Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. Jesus paid that wage for any who will accept His payment on his or her behalf.
In fact, the rest of that verse says that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ.
He secured your salvation on that ugly ol’ cross.
It’s yours for the taking. You can leave here today knowing you have an eternal home in heaven.
All it takes is for you to put your trust in Christ as your only hope of salvation, recognizing that His death on the cross paid for your sins.
You do that by admitting the fact that you’re a sinner. Make no mistake about it, friend, you are a sinner. The Bible tells us that everyone has sinned, and that sin disqualifies us from heaven. So admit your need for forgiveness.
Then, believing that Christ died for you that horrible day at Calvary, rising three days later, call on Him for forgiveness, and to give you the eternal life that He bought with His blood.
He promises that all who call on Him will be saved. And you can count on God to keep His promises.
The Bible says that when you receive Christ as your Savior, you become a child of God, an heir with Him in heaven, and a new creature here on earth.
Take advantage of that offer, won’t you?
I will be leading us in a prayer in just a moment, if you would like to come to Christ for forgiveness and eternal life.
But right now I want to take this opportunity to remind the rest of us that even though you may already have Christ as your Savior and Lord, you need to reaffirm your love for Him from time to time, telling Him you appreciate His sacrifice on your behalf, and determining to live a life that pleases Him, not out of some sense of obligation, but out of love.
Set aside your personal agenda for the agenda of God, and watch Him bless. He’s done it for me, and I know He’s done it for you.
Be grateful and show it in a life of holiness.
Shall we pray.
