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Barnes in Commonthe magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
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The Crowd and the Passion Storyby Rob JonesI stopped going to football matches in 1974. It was after an FA Cup match at Highbury between Arsenal and Brentford Town. Until then I had been a regular if not routine spectator. I enjoyed the atmosphere as well as the game, the mutual sense of camaraderie and corporate enthusiasm. But on this occasion the antipathy between the two groups of supporters reached a new low: the chants, the language, the missiles through the air. This was something I did not want to be a part of and I stopped going. I can see now that crowds have an ambiguous quality. A crowd can be by turns comforting, encouraging, celebratory, or condemning, hateful and destructive. The Nazis skilfully used crowds to convey a sense of one whilst at the same time propagating the other. Worst of all, crowds can move from light to dark at mercurial speed. We need to be very careful how we use crowds ourselves. So, at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, the crowd responds enthusiastically to the healing of a man with leprosy (Mark 1.45) and the feeding of a great multitude (all gospels), but towards the end the crowd had melted away even to the point where Jesus asked the disciples if they would like to go too. (John 12.37). In the story of Holy Week, the crowd plays the same contradictory role. For the palm procession into Jerusalem, the crowd is euphoric, cheering their Hosannas - this is acclamation. Yet within five days, it performs a volte-face. '"Crucify" is all their breath, and for his death they thirst and cry.' Even in our own experience, 'public opinion' is a dangerous way of deciding policy. Countries who routinely use referenda and plebiscites to make decisions end up with some strange and sometimes difficult ways of organising their life - for example, thirty-eight states in the USA support the death penalty. Real democracy is about debate, reflection and genuine wisdom. In the gospels, the crowd appears to have the final decision but really this is the way in which Pilate camouflages his own weakness. The crowd gets the blame and fair enough - but it is Pilate who signs the death warrant. Only Luke records the crowd's response to the crucifixion. 'When all the crowd who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home beating their breasts.' (23.48) Just sometimes mania is turned to regret and the will to do something better. Speaking against the crowd requires great courage, but sometimes we need to be lonely voices encouraging a change of heart. |
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