The Dynamics of the Mob
September 16, 2020
The Scripture
quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible,
copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
They spread their
cloaks and leafy branches on the road for him to ride over.[1]
They shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Mark 11:8-9. The Jewish leaders of the day wanted to arrest him but didn’t
because the crowd considered him a prophet. Matthew 21:45-46. A short time
later they shouted to Pilate “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them why,
what evil has he done? They shouted “Let him be crucified!” Matthew 27:23.
Pilate washed his hands before them and said, “I am innocent of this man’s
blood.” They replied, “His blood be on us and on our children!” What happened?
How was it that the Jewish people of Jerusalem turned from hailing him as the
one who comes in the name of the Lord to shouting let his blood be on us and on
our children? It is such a dramatic turn. It happened in such a short time.
Hosanna! Crucify him! What had happened? How had things changed in a way that
might explain the change in the crowd’s attitude toward Jesus?
A couple of things
had happened. Most importantly perhaps the authorities had arrested him. Today
most people figure that if the authorities have arrested someone that person
must be guilty of something, probably of the offense for which they were
arrested. The people of ancient Jerusalem surely assumed the same thing when
someone had been arrested. They don’t turn on Jesus until he is arrested. Now
he’s a prisoner. Now he’s not teaching anybody anything except perhaps by
example. Those people knew what happened to people the Romans arrested. They
almost always got tortured. Sometimes they got executed, at times by the worst
method imaginable, crucifixion. They knew that the Romans did not take kindly
to crowds of people supporting someone they had arrested. They knew that the occupying
Romans were a real threat to them. The Romans had used massive force to put
down opposition before. They knew the Romans would not be reluctant to do it
again. That fear of the Romans was one reason the Jewish authorities had been
cautious about turning on Jesus and causing a riot. Now Jesus looked like a
criminal not like a prophet. They now had no reason to support him and every reason
to turn against him.
Then there were
the actions of the temple authorities. They had detained Jesus and turned him
over to the Romans with a request that he be crucified. Then they manipulated
the crowd to demand that crucifixion. In Mark, Matthew, and Luke we read that
at the Passover the Romans would release one prisoner whom the people wanted
released. See for example Matthew 27:15-23. There is essentially no
extra-biblical evidence of such a practice, and it makes no sense for the
Romans to have done it, but never mind. In these three Gospels the crowd is
given a choice about whom to have the Romans release, Jesus or an
insurrectionist named Barabbas. In Matthew we read, “Now the chief priests and
the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed.[2]
Matthew 27:20. We see that the people’s religious leaders stirred them up
against the prisoner Jesus. The people had formed into a mob. Mobs are easily
manipulated, much more easily manipulated than individual people are. Matthew
just says that these leaders “persuaded” the people to demand the release of
Barabbas and the death of Jesus, but we can easily imagine some fiery orator
not just persuading the people but whipping them up into a frenzy against
Jesus, the one the authorities wanted killed. The mob did what mobs do when
charismatic leaders whip them up into a frenzy. They did what the leaders
wanted. They demanded the execution of Jesus.
That’s how it was
with the mob in Jerusalem after Jesus’ arrest, but that’s something that
happened to other people a long time ago in a place far away. How is it with us
today? Well, it’s pretty much the same. It’s as easy for a leader to incite
hatred in a mob today as it was in Jerusalem two thousand years ago. As Exhibit
A in support of that contention I introduce President Donald J. Trump and his
gang of supporters the media always call his base.
Trump generates
support by whipping up his base to accept slander and lies. That’s why he
prefers to campaign before large rallies rather than in smaller settings. They
make it easy for him to manipulate the crowd. And manipulate the crowd he does.
Trump whips up his base against the mainstream, responsible media by shouting “Fake
news!” So his base hates the mainstream media. He shouts about Hillary Clinton “Lock
her up!” So his base shouts back “Lock her up!” That there is no legal basis
for locking her up matters to them not at all. Trump calls immigrants rapists
and murderers, which for the most part
by far they aren’t, so his base shouts “Throw them all out! Take their children
away from them and keep them in cages!” Trump calls the science of climate
change a hoax, so his base does nothing to reduce its carbon footprint and
supports the repeal of regulations intended to address global warming. Trump
calls the science of the coronavirus pandemic a hoax, so his base goes to his large
indoor rallies and other big events like the Sturgis motorcycle rally taking no
precautions against the virus whatsoever. That significant numbers of them then
come down with COVID-19 matters to them not at all. They see a news report of
some false positive COVID-19 tests and say we’re being played, as a cousin of
my did not long ago. Trump shouts that he’s done a wonderful job of responding
to the pandemic, and his base buys the lie. Trump shouts that the US economy is
stronger than ever, and his base buys the lie. If Trump told them to crucify
Jesus they’d all shout “Crucify him!” though most of them claim to be
Christians. They are a perfect example of mob mentality, something fascists
always use to get themselves into power.
So it always is
with the mob. People are so easy to manipulate when they gather in large
numbers even if they only do it electronically. Christian anti-Semites have for
nearly two thousand years used the line “His blood be on us and on our children”
to justify their hatred of the Jews. It matters not to them that it never
happened as a matter of historical fact or that if it did it was an emotional
cry of a whipped up mob not a reasoned response by anyone to what was
happening. We should excise that line from our Bibles. But in any event let’s
be careful of mob mentality. It is present with us today perhaps as never
before. We mustn’t let it prevail. We mustn’t let it determine the outcome of
our elections. We must call it what it is, hysteria not reason, mob mentality
not rationality. On November 3, 2020, we must deal it a mortal blow. May it be
so.
[1] A
disclaimer, or perhaps it’s just an explanation. I write here using the terms
of Bible stories. I do not necessarily consider them to be historically
accurate. It was the Romans not the Jews who crucified Jesus. I mean nothing
anti-Jewish by what I write here.
[2]
There is a great irony in the names here. In Aramaic Barabbas means son of the
father. The people had the Romans release someone named the son of the father
and execute the true Son of the Father.
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