The Behavior of the Crowd During Holy Week

Today begins Holy Week, which culminates in the celebration of the resurrection on Easter Sunday.  Holy Week takes up a significant portion of all four canonized gospels.  This is particularly true of the Gospel of Mark, which has been described as the period of Holy Week with an extended introduction.

There are a number of characters that play a role during Holy Week.  There are the obvious major characters of Jesus, the disciples, Pilate, the Roman military, and the Jewish religious establishment.  But one of the most interesting characters in the story is what can be called the "crowd." The crowd that welcomes Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the crowd that is given the choice between executing Jesus and Barabbas, and the crowd that witnesses the crucifixion.

It is very likely that the "crowd" in all three of these scenes is composed of many of the same persons.  The population of Jerusalem swelled during Passover, but the city was still small by modern standards, both in terms of physical size of the city itself, and the size of the population.

The "crowd" has a personality, just like the other characters in the story.  Most importantly, the crowd is easily swayed by popular opinion and the powers that be.  The crowd welcomed Jesus into the city, probably because of the rumors that they had heard that Jesus was the Messiah, which led them to perceive him as someone who would initiate a military coup.  That same crowd gathers to watch Jesus overturn the tables of the money changes.  The crowd then follows along as the trial and crucifixion of Jesus are brought about by the Roman government and Jewish religious establishment.

There are two lessons that we learn from this character in the story.  The first is the danger of automatically conforming to the behavior of the majority.  This story reveals that the crowd lacks wisdom, discernment, and courage.  Second, as those who are called to live according to the example of Christ, we must not be swayed by what the "crowd" thinks of us.  If we are faithful to God's call, we may be called to act in a way that is contrary to the crowd.  We must accept the fact that the crowd will not like us very much.  All that matters is following God's will.