Lectionary Text: John 12:12-19

"Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—
    the King of Israel!" John 12:13

“The Pharisees took one look and threw up their hands: "It's out of control. The world's in a stampede after him." ( John 12:19. The Message Bible)

Hosanna! It's out of control! These quotes highlight the tension about the crowd welcoming Jesus to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. How do you feel about crowds? You probably don't want to be in a crowded elevator or subway car. Some people would do anything to be in the in-crowd, while others would consider that an insult. Crowds may create an energy burst or fill us with terror and dread, depending on the circumstances. 

It can be exhilarating to be swept up in the energy of a crowd. We had season tickets to the Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball games. The atmosphere was electric with the band playing and cheerleaders leaping, and when a shot swished through the net, a collective roar of 14,000 people reverberated in your whole body. Psychologist Dachar Keltner, in his book on Awe, called these experiences "collective effervescence." It is the swooning experience at the early Beatles concerts, the Taylor Swift Eras tour, and Beyonce's Elevation tour. People felt a collective awe at the Lincoln Memorial as Dr. King's inspiring voice spoke a dream of what America could be.

This desire for collective effervescence draws people to Monster Truck Rallies, Trump rallies, and listening to the Hallelujah chorus on Easter morning. A collective effervescence of sports, music, marches, and church helps us feel a part of something greater than ourselves, whether we chant "We're Number One!" or "The people-united-can never be defeated!" or ""Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord." 

Palm Sunday in John's Gospel tells us several elements of collective effervescence. First, Jesus comes to town with plenty of hype. News has traveled that he raised Lazarus from the dead in Bethany, so people are eager to get a look at him. It's the week of Passover, so there are already hundreds of pilgrims streaming into town. Jesus carefully plans his entrance on a donkey, turning the moment into a parade. Since most people are on foot, the donkey ride draw attention. The donkey is also linked to the prophetic words of Zachariah 9:9, who said that the true king sent by God to make things right would come this way,

    Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you;
    triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,

If a ruler rides a war horse, they come to enforce obedience. But the one who rides a donkey comes with an offer of peace and reconciliation. When people see Jesus on the donkey, they grab palms and wave them, increasing the festive experience. 

All four Gospels also refer to Psalm 118, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord-Blessed is the King of Israel!" These words bring a political element, since they are welcoming a king. The biblical heading for Psalm 118 reads, "A Song of Victory." The Hebrew word "Hosanna" literally means "save us now." It is a plea for help in a time of distress and has an element of honor and praise. Hosanna! We see you, King of Israel, as the one who can save us, so grant us success. 

Which is why not everyone in the crowd is experiencing collective effervescence. We know the rest of the story of Holy Week moves from "Hosanna!" to "Crucify him!" When I examined all the references to crowds in the Gospels, I discovered Jesus had to be skilled at crowd control because his ministry drew astonishing numbers. Once the multitude was so large, he had to preach in a boat offshore so people could hear. Often, Jesus takes the disciples to a quiet place to escape the relentlessness hordes of needy people. When they escaped by boat and crossed the Lake of Gennesaret, the crowd ran around the lake and met him on the other side. Twice, angry mobs threatened Jesus. In Nazareth, people were so enraged they almost threw him over a cliff. In John 8, the chief priests tried to defame him and said he had a demon, and people picked up stones to throw, but Jesus hid and slipped away. The multitude could also protect him. I found at least four places in the Gospels where the religious authorities wanted to arrest Jesus, but they were afraid of the crowds.

Crowd control was essential for Jesus and the religious leaders who opposed him. A throng can be erratic and may flip-flop between cheering and jeering. The Greek word for crowd is ochlos, which refers to a large gathering of people who are often disorderly or tumultuous. Negativity and anger can move through a crowd even faster than collective effervescence. We use the phrase "herd mentality" to describe how energy moves through a group and how they influence each other into conformity. My grandparents raised cattle, and if you spooked one of them, they acted in a group. They taught me always to be deliberate around cows because you could be in danger if they stampede. Humans can do that, too, which is why I stop and pray before every sermon. 

Today, the human herd moves lightning-fast on social media. You might think you are sending a funny meme to family and friends, but suddenly, you get angry replies from people you never met who are friends of friends. When a Twitter mob attacks your reputation, you have little defense or accountability other than to stir up your mob. An unproven social media post sent a mob to election worker Ruby Freeman's door while she hid and called 911, fearing for her life. Disinformation fuels the flames of a mob. I heard the term recently, "conflict entrepreneurs." These are people who constantly inflame things to get attention and build their brand. There is a lot of money to make, stirring people to outrage to sell your content or merchandise or make a campaign contribution. Outrage sells. A high degree of polarization results from people stoking outrage for their profit.

The technology and speed are new, but crowd control is an old game. Like the Pharisees said in our reading, "This is out of control. The whole world is stampeding after him." So, from Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday, they work the crowd. 

In John's Gospel, there are eight references to religious leaders plotting to kill Jesus. Tension starts as early as John 5 when they are angry about Jesus' healing on the Sabbath, and they begin to persecute him. The preceding chapter to Palm Sunday in John is about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. This leads to the crowd following him and the chief priest want to kill him. How does a religious leader get to the point where you believe you must commit murder to eliminate opposition? They don't say, "We need to hold this guy accountable, take him to court, or hold a hearing at Church and Ministry Committee." But they plot to kill him. Didn't they have ethics classes in seminary? Indeed, they knew the sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not commit murder."   

 When Jesus gets to Jerusalem, they want to kill Lazarus too! Think of the irony of wanting to kill a guy already raised from the dead! I would think twice before attacking someone who came back from the dead. Shouldn't that be when you pause for a little moral reflection? If I'm at a political rally and I see a group of Neo-Nazis on my side, I would stop and evaluate. Maybe I do have some common interests with Neo-Nazis. I hear Hitler was a vegetarian; I'll give him that. But in general, if I'm contemplating the murder of a guy raised from the dead, or the Neo-Nazis are on my side, or the guy saying love your neighbor is on the other side, it's time to re-evaluate if ethical religion is still my main goal. 

After this worship service, we move beyond Hosanna to Holy Week to crucify him. As we hold our palms, we are symbolically a part of the crowd. On Maundy Thursday, we will sing, "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?" We re-enact Holy Week and the death and resurrection of Jesus annually because the same forces are battling in our souls. One calls you to love and justice, the other pulls you towards ego, greed, and power through division. No crowd stood for Jesus in the end, and the death had its way for three days. We must face that, had we been there, we would have likely failed as well. So, we can't rush to Easter without deep reflection. The cross is not just about sacrifice or saving us from our sins. It’s also about showing us our sins. This is the kind of injustice of which we are capable, so we can’t fade into the crowd and avoid responsibility for our lives.

Jesus will not rise on Easter to a crowd. He doesn’t appear in the Temple, but a garden. He appears one-to-one and small clusters of those who are open to him. The demand on each of us is to be ready, in our time, to make room in our hearts and in our world for the possibilities of resurrection.