The Fickleness of the Multitudes

2023-07-04

There is evidence that many of the people who supported Christ when He entered Jerusalem rejected Him later. The fickleness of the followers of Jesus is present in the Gospels. The 5,000 that were miraculously fed of Jesus followed Him all the way around the sea to see Him again to get another free meal: “Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled” (John 6:26). People wanted Christ for the wrong reasons. It’s human nature and it’s prosperity gospel. “Follow Jesus to get your needs met.” What happened when He didn’t meet their expectations? “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him” (John 6:66).

There was a multitude there per Matthew 27:20, just like in Matthew 21:8-9. We cannot say they are the same multitudes, but there is not necessarily evidence that this multitude were paid protestors, except that the religious leaders were persuasive to the multitude in Matthew 27:20 and Mark 15:11. It sounds like they were stirring up the crowds with rhetoric. And those that would have been hiding because of fear shows the same kind of unbelief and rejection in a different way.

Despite the Jews saying, “His blood be on us, and on our children,” God gave them nearly 40 years to turn to Him. They didn’t. The land laid in rubble for centuries after A.D. 70. While there are Jewish believers out there, the majority reject Him. Romans 9-11 explains their hardening. I believe there will be a national repentance for them one day, but it still has not happened.

Most wanted a physical Savior, and when they did not get it, many were angry and hardened.