Palm Sunday: The Crowd

 When Jesus entered Jerusalem,

   the whole city was stirred up. (Matthews 21:10)

The whole city, from top: Caiaphas the high priest; to bottom: the children singing Hosanna, were “stirred up.” When the chief priests and the scribes heard the children singing their loud Hosannas, the religious leaders became indignant. In between, the regular folks, vacillate between the children’s Hosannas and the religious leaders’ indignation. There is something volatile about this stirred up crowd. Today, on the first Sunday of Holy Week, the crowd welcomes Jesus into the city joining with the children singing, “Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is the One who comes in the Name of the Lord” (Ps 118:26 = Mt 21:9). Jesus goes along with it allowing the crowd to sing His praise and receiving their loud Hosannas.

But, the crowd is fickle. In a few short days, the chief priests and the elders will stir the crowd up into a mob crying out, “Crucify Him!” What turns their loud Hosannas into “Crucify Him”? How did the welcoming crowd become such an angry mob? By Friday, even Jesus’ disciples will abandon him. Only a handful of women followers stick with their Palm Sunday Hosannas. Maybe marginalized people know what it is to be betrayed and shouted down. They remain on Jesus’ side. As Jesus taught: “Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” (Mt  19:30). We do well to be leery of stirred up crowds.