Vicar’s March Letter

Dear friends,

Have you ever been to a pantomime? You may have been recently. When Rachel, Sarah and Joe were younger, pantomimes were a part of our family routine. One thing that always interested me was the audience participation. The whole routine of someone having lost someone or something and “It’s behind you”. The “Oh yes it is!” and “Oh no it isn’t!”. The booing whenever the evil character appears and the cheering whenever our hero appears. An interesting dynamic and quite an experience to be part of a large group all responding in the same way.

Being at a big sporting event can invoke some of the same feelings, particularly if you are supporting a particular team. Everyone cheering and then booing together, anticipating something at the end of a particular move and sharing either jubilation or disappointment according to the outcome. The connections between supporters of a team can become more intense if playing a particular rival team.

There are a few ‘crowd scenes’ in the Easter story where we see large groups of people apparently reacting and speaking as one.

The first comes on Palm Sunday. The crowds travelling to Jerusalem with Jesus proclaimed him as King, shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” The images of followers worshipping Jesus and laying their cloaks and palm branches before him are familiar.

We hear about crowds again on Good Friday. As Pilate wrestled with his conscience and reasoned with the crowds about what to do with Jesus, a man he found no fault with, they shouted “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Later in the day, as Jesus hung on the cross, the crowds mocked him, saying “Save yourself. Come down from the cross.” The chants and taunts are so familiar to us.

I have heard various talks and sermons on the staggering change in position amongst ‘the crowd’ between the Sunday and the Friday. Certainly this is worth exploring if the crowds on the different days contained the same people, but if we look carefully at the Bible passages it seems clear that they are actually different groups. John tells us that the crowds worshipping Jesus and laying down cloaks and branches were those who had witnessed the raising of Lazarus from the dead or had heard about it. Matthew talks about the people of Jerusalem (obviously not involved in the celebrations) asked those that were “Who is this?” and the crowds (who had been worshipping and celebrating) responding “Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

The people in Jerusalem did not know who Jesus was, were not worshipping him on Palm Sunday and wanted rid of him on Good Friday. The crowds with Jesus were probably travelling to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, had heard Jesus and seen his miracles, wanted to recognise him as King, but were probably on their way home on Good Friday after the Passover festival. So the question about why they changed their minds doesn’t really apply.

But there is another question. One for us to answer today. Which crowd would you be in? The one that recognised Jesus and wanted to worship him, or the one that didn’t know who he was and wanted rid of him?

I hope you have a wonderful Easter and I hope you are ‘in’ with the right crowd!

God bless,