Church of the Holy City

The Horrors of Mob Violence

The Horrors of Mob Violence
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
Good Friday
April 2, 2010

Mark 15:1-47

The story of the crucifixion shows how horrible humans can be under certain conditions. What we are dealing with in the crucifixion is mob violence. People will do things in a mob situation that they wouldn’t dream of doing on their own. In the story of the crucifixion we are not dealing with premeditated, conscious evil. No, we are dealing with the whims of a mob mentality.
Just one week before the crucifixion, the same mob that celled for Jesus’ death had welcomed him with joy and singing. How could the tide have turned so drastically so soon? Jesus must have felt a horrible bewilderment. Had all his efforts to enlighten humanity fallen on deaf ears? One of His own apostles had betrayed him to the chief priests. Another had denied Him to a bystander to save his own skin. Swedenborg tells us that Jesus’ sole concern was the salvation of the human race, so that we could all enjoy the delights of heaven and live to eternity with God. It must have appeared to Jesus that His sole concern had failed. I have no doubt that when Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” He was crying out for the wellbeing of the human race, not His own life.
When we consider the crowd that called for Jesus’ crucifixion, we need to be clear that it was not the Jews who are guilty. Mark does not say that it was the Jews who called for Jesus’ death, it was the crowd. As Jerusalem had many different nationalities living there, we can envision a mob of Greeks, Romans, Jews, and other peoples who had gathered there before Pilate. Mark does tell us that the chief priests stirred up the crowd, but it was the mob itself that Pilate dealt with. Pilate’s question to the mob is significant. He asks, “Why, what evil has he done?” Pilate himself found no grounds for condemning Jesus. Nor does the crowd give him an answer as to what offence Jesus had committed. Jesus had done nothing to offend the crowd. Jesus was innocent. He was an innocent victim to a bloodthirsty mob. It was senseless mob violence that cried out for His death. And it was to satisfy the mob that Pilate released Jesus to be crucified.
We see this kind of human behavior everywhere. People will band together and gossip against someone. When they get together, everyone has something to add against the victim, and their feelings of enmity grow in their little group. We see this in neighbors who unite across a fence. Or we see it in the workplace, where a supervisor or a co-worker becomes the enemy to the group. We see this in an institutional form, when political parties are formed. Then one party unites against its opposition. Often, the party itself becomes the important thing, and the issues they propound, or the welfare of the state become second place. We see this in even more drastic form in riots that erupt from time to time in large cities. I recall the Los Angeles riots of, I believe, 1992. I recall a truck driver who drove into the middle of the riots. He had done nothing to the mob. But he was dragged from his truck. I remember a teen aged boy smashing him in the head with a fire extinguisher and then doing a victory dance. Had the same two people met under different circumstances, there would have been no incentive to violence. They would probably have passed each other as strangers and not even have noticed each other. We see mob violence in street gangs. Where drive-by murders occur over rivalries for dominance, vengeance, or territory disputes. Whether it is co-workers gossiping about a supervisor, or a gangland slaying, the dynamics are the same: The safety in numbers that allow for atrocities that an individual would not commit on their own.
Jesus’ crucifixion was the worst event in human history. But I wouldn’t say that it shows humanity at its worst. The mob violence that cried for Jesus’ crucifixion was not premeditated evil from a person committed to evil. It was not committed by people who wanted to destroy God and God’s message. This makes it all the more senseless. This makes it all the more meaningless.
And yet in the crucifixion, we have Godliness in its highest form. There, on the cross, innocently sentenced to a horrible death, we have the message of Divine forgiveness. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus utters the famous words, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (23:34). In his final horrible moments, Jesus’ sole concern was for the human race for whom He had come to earth. This tells us God’s true nature. God does not judge. God does not condemn. God is not vengeful. As Jesus lived out the full human condition, even to death, He forgave even his murderers. And in so doing, Jesus shows us the was to be Godly in our own lives. If we call ourselves by His name, then we, too, are to embody Christ’s love and forgiveness. From petty slights, to outright malice, we need to remember Christ’s words and forgive. Indeed, there are times to defend ourselves. Indeed, there are times when we may try to amend hurtful behaviors. But as Christians, we are called to do this in the spirit of love and forgiveness. And if the crucifixion teaches us anything, isn’t it what the ancient Jewish lawgiver tells us, “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong” (Exodus 23:2). We need the strength of character to act according to our own conscience. In this fractured world, it may seem as if we are standing alone at times. But the risen Christ is always with us. And in Christ, we will never stand alone.