Standing in the Crowd: Choosing the Way of Jesus

The narrative traces the journey to the cross by focusing on the crowd that surrounds Jesus, naming its shifting faces and moral complexities. Public executions in the Roman world appear as theatre designed to intimidate; every detail of the humiliation functions as a message against resistance. The crowd contains shouters who demand crucifixion, bystanders who distance themselves, witnesses who watch in sorrow, disciples who flee, and many who simply do not pay attention. Fear emerges as the primary force that keeps people passive or complicit—fear of losing status, security, reputation, or safety. The text exposes how systems of power rely on spectacle and fear to preserve order, and how ordinary people become instruments of that preservation.

The narrative contrasts earthly power with the way of Jesus, showing that faithfulness does not guarantee comfort or success. Jesus walks into suffering without retaliation, embodying a power rooted in self-giving love and nonresistance. That posture reveals the emptiness of violent power and refuses to let domination define reality. The Anabaptist insistence on peace, costly discipleship, and visible alternative communities finds its grounding in this example: faithful presence often looks small, patient, and countercultural rather than triumphant.

Practical discipleship appears in the quiet, imperfect acts that break mob dynamics—speaking up, sitting with the marginalized, refusing to join dehumanizing talk, and choosing presence over avoidance. A middle-school cafeteria vignette illustrates how a single, humble act can shift a scene and begin another way of relating. The sermon invites attention to the dissonance between desire for justice and the fear of its cost, urging honesty about complicity and courage to act despite that fear.

Resurrection does not erase Good Friday; it transforms it. The call asks for faithfulness within suffering, trusting that God works even in broken places. The final invitation encourages noticing where one stands in the crowd, naming the fears that hold one back, and taking a single courageous step toward the way of love, peace, and the cross.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. The crowd shows many faces The crowd shifts between shouters, bystanders, witnesses, runners, and the unaware. Recognizing these roles in oneself helps name complicity and opens the possibility of change. Seeing the crowd honestly prevents moral self-deception and invites a disciplined gaze toward where courage or cowardice actually lives. Awareness becomes the first step toward ethical action. [43:11]
• 2. Fear fuels public complicity Fear—of status, safety, or loss—keeps people silent or cruel more often than malice does. Understanding fear as the engine behind mob behavior reframes moral failure as a spiritual struggle to be addressed, not merely condemned. That perspective calls for practices that disarm fear: presence, solidarity, and small, repeatable acts of care. Confronting fear enables more faithful responses. [49:34]
• 3. Power revealed by nonresistance Jesus’ refusal to retaliate exposes violent power as hollow and offers self-giving love as an alternative force. Nonresistance does not equal passivity; it names a deliberate power that breaks the logic of domination by witnessing truth through sacrificial presence. Embracing this way challenges cultural assumptions that equate faith with advantage or comfort. Choosing this path reorients community toward healing and justice. [51:58]
• 4. Small acts begin new ways Courage rarely erupts as spectacle; it moves in quiet, ordinary choices—sitting beside the mocked, speaking a single word, refusing an easy laugh. These tiny acts do not fix systems but interrupt patterns and create space for dignity to return. Repeated, humble choices form a countercultural rhythm that reshapes neighborhoods and schools more than grand gestures alone. Start with one small step and trust its ripple. [57:40]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [24:31] - Opening anecdotes and announcements
• [31:08] - Family and weather updates
• [33:22] - Easter plans and community events
• [34:12] - Funeral and prayer requests
• [36:14] - Lent resources and mission notes
• [37:21] - Opening prayer and thanks
• [43:11] - Introducing the crowd theme
• [46:19] - Identifying crowd types
• [49:34] - Fear, spectacle, and power
• [51:58] - Jesus’ response: self-giving love
• [55:52] - Small acts of courage (cafeteria)
• [58:32] - Resurrection and faithful suffering
• [60:11] - Closing prayer and hymn

Bible reading: John 19:1-16 (NIV)
Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face. Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!” As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” The Jews insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you know I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

Observation questions

1. What were the different actions the Roman soldiers took against Jesus, and what was the purpose of this public spectacle according to the sermon? [45:22]
2. Who were the different groups of people present in the crowd during this event, and what were their various responses to what was happening to Jesus? [44:08]
3. What was the primary emotion that the sermon identified as the driving force behind the crowd's complicity and inaction? [49:34]
4. How did Jesus respond to the violence and injustice being done to him, and what did this reveal about the nature of his power? [51:58]

Interpretation questions

1. The sermon described public executions in the Roman world as "theatre designed to intimidate" [44:39]. In what ways do systems of power today still use spectacle and fear to maintain control and discourage resistance?
2. The sermon identified several roles in the crowd: shouters, bystanders, witnesses, those who run, and the unaware [46:19]. Why is it important to recognize that people can move between these roles rather than being fixed in one category?
3. What does it mean that Jesus' nonresistance and refusal to retaliate actually "exposes violent power as hollow" [51:58]? How does self-giving love serve as a more powerful alternative force?
4. The sermon spoke of the "dissonance" between a desire for justice and the fear of its cost [53:44]. Why is it spiritually important to sit with this tension rather than trying to resolve it too quickly?

Application questions

1. The crowd shows many faces, and we can often find ourselves in different roles throughout our week [43:11]. As you look at your life—at work, in your family, online—where have you most recently seen yourself as a shouter, a bystander, a witness, someone who runs, or someone who is unaware? What was happening in that moment?
2. Fear is often the engine behind our silence or complicity [49:34]. What is a specific fear—of losing status, security, reputation, or safety—that has held you back from speaking up or stepping in when you saw someone being marginalized or hurt?
3. Jesus’ power was revealed through nonresistance and self-giving love [51:58]. What is one practical, tangible way you could choose to respond to a conflict or injustice this week with this kind of power, rather than with avoidance or retaliation?
4. Courage often looks like small, quiet acts rather than grand gestures [57:40]. Can you recall a time when a simple, small act of kindness from someone else made a significant difference for you? What made that act courageous?
5. The sermon invited us to take "one step forward, not because we're fearless, but because we trust the one who walks with us" [59:51]. What is one small, courageous step you feel called to take this week to step out of the crowd and stand with someone who is hurting or alone?