The Cross and the Crowd: A Good Friday Meditation
“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Matthew 25:46
Matthew 25:46
A car accident. A football game. Black Friday at the mall. And the cross of Christ.
What do these things have in common? For starters, each of these events draw a crowd.
Indeed, since God commanded his image-bearers to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 9:1–7) and scattered the nations over the earth (Genesis 10–11), crowds have been forming. This is true nationally, as the Lord has gathered people into various places (Acts 17:26), but this is also true socially, politically, and religiously, too.
Naturally, certain events have drawn men, women, and children to gather for the purpose of seeing something. Indeed, in the list just provided, it is not just the events themselves that draw a crowd, it is the activity of the event. It’s what the crowd might see.
Every fall, fans crowd into 100,000-person stadiums to see their team win the big game. Likewise, the day after Thanksgiving lures shoppers to see what deals they might find. And more tragically, whenever a gruesome car accident clogs the arteries entering a city, those commuters who are late for work still manage to slow down and look. By nature, we are drawn to look and see and behold the glories of the world.
Crowding to See the Divine
As God made the world, he filled it with things to see. And one of the most human aspects of this world is the way that men and women go out of their way to search for things they want to see. Indeed, while faith is based on something more than sight (2 Cor. 5:7; cf. Genesis 13), there is something deeply spiritual about seeing the divine. And crowds will travel the earth to see the divine.
For instance, it is estimated that during the Jubilee celebration of 2025, 35 million people will visit the Vatican, with 100,000 coming for Easter Sunday. Likewise, every twelve years, close to a quarter of a billion (yes, billion with a B) Hindu pilgrims attend the Kumbh Mela religious festival in India. These pilgrims travel to the confluence of the Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik, and Ujjain Rivers, where they will bathe in the polluted waters in order to atone for their sins. Closer to home and to our own religious tradition, events like T4G, TGC, and the SBC have drawn thousands of visitors as well.
In short, crowds are both natural to humanity and necessary for spiritual formation. Admittedly, crowds can gather for religions that are more deadly than a thirty-car pileup on the highway and crowd sizes are never fully indicative of spiritual truth. Nevertheless, crowds are a part of God’s plan for bringing salvation to the world.
The Church as the Crowd of Crowds
As Jesus declared in Matthew 16:18, “I will build this church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.” In making this declaration of ecclesial success (ecclesial = having to do with the church), Jesus promised to gather a crowd. Gloriously, that crowd will not be limited to location, language, or chronology. Rather, the promise of Jesus’s universal church is a declaration that he will gather a crowd from all the crowds of the earth. This why the angels sing in heaven:
“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:9–10
Truly, the church of Jesus Christ is the crowd of crowds. And one day, all those who hear the voice of their shepherd will be brought near to the throne of God. And there around the throne, they will gather with the countless multitude (Revelation 7) and sing praises to the Victorious Lamb. Meanwhile, all those who refused the voice of the Lamb, they too will come. But their time at the throne will be short-lived, as they are summarily dismissed and thrown into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20). Such is the great divide that will take place on that day (Matthew 25:46).
A History of Gathering and Dividing the Crowds
Still, that final division which Jesus describes in Matthew 25:31–46 only completes what Christ has been doing since the dawn of time. Truly, from God’s promise in the Garden of Eden that he would bring into the world a serpent-slaying seed (Gen. 3:15) until the birth of that serpent-slayer in Bethlehem (Matthew 1–2), the crowds of humanity have been divided repeatedly.
Cain and Abel were the first division in the human race. But quickly, this division would reach Enoch and Lamech (Genesis 4¬–5), as well as Noah’s family being set apart from the rest of humanity. After the flood too, Shem, Ham, and Japheth would be divided (Gen. 9:18–27), along with the nations that came from their descendants (Genesis 10–11). Moving to Abram, we see another long series of divisions: Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Israel and Egypt, and finally Judah and Ephraim.
Long story short, the history of redemption is filled with crowds. Some gather to worship God rightly, by attending the festivals in Jerusalem as the word of God commanded (see Leviticus 23). Yet, other crowds formed to worship the gods wrongly, whether at Dan or Bethel in the northern parts of Israel (2 Kings 12), or at some other megalithic structure. In all of these places, however, these various crowds gathered around competing altars. And this history reminds us that there is a fundamental divide in humanity—between those who are the children of God and those who are children of the devil (see John 8:39–47). But ultimately, what makes this difference come to light is the way that men and women see. And specifically, what they see when they look at the cross of Christ.
Seeing is Believing
As Jesus will say in Matthew 6:22, “The eye is the lamp of the body.” Which means that what a man sees or doesn’t see will largely determine the character of that man’s life. Explaining this metaphor further, Jesus says, “So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness” (Matt 6:22b–23). What Jesus teaches here is that the eyes determine the light or darkness of a person’s life. And of course, Jesus is not just describing the physical organ (the eyes) that can be improved by Lasik surgery. He’s addressing the spiritual condition of a mankind.
In this world, men will pursue the things that are pleasing and attractive to them. And because every individual is made in the image of God, they will be drawn to spiritual realities, religious experiences, and altars of worship. The question is not whether, but which. All men worship, but not all worship in Spirit and Truth. And as we will see, the difference has everything to do with spiritual (in)sight.
Though we may scoff at the devotees who run to see the Pope or bathe in the waters of the Kumbha Mela, Westerners are equally devoted to seeing our idols. These idols may appear on social media, at the IMAX theater, or in the arena. But do not turn a blind eye to the spiritual formation that comes from seeking our secular idols. Truly, the one who goes with the crowds of modern materialism is just as blind as the Hindu priest in India. Only more so, if they cannot see the spirituality of the mall.
Still, for all the ways that the crowds follow their eyes and invite you to follow them, there is one place and one crowd that stands above them all. And that place is the cross of Christ.
The Cross and the Crowd
Notably, when Jesus is taken to Golgotha and nailed to a tree, there is a crowd that forms. As Luke 23:27 puts it, “And there followed [Jesus] a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him.” Indeed, as Jesus goes to the cross he is not alone. But rather he is surrounded by a crowd. And that crowd consisted of the spectators who lamented his death and even more by the rulers, the priests, and the soldier who mocked Jesus and hurled accusations at him.
Ironically, some of the people we would expect to be at the foot of the cross are missing. Of Jesus disciples, Judas has betrayed Jesus; Peter has denied Jesus; and of the twelve, all are scattered and missing, except for John. From the cross, Jesus addresses many of his onlookers, but only John and his mother Mary receive a word of instruction. In John 19:26–27, he says to his mother “Woman, behold, your son!” And then he says to his beloved disciple, “Behold, your mother!” Indeed, this is one of Jesus’s seven sayings on the cross.
Yet, for all that Jesus says on the cross, there are plenty of things that the crowd says too. For instance, the two thieves, who are hours away from death, debate about how to respond to Christ. Many passers-by hurl insults at Jesus, while one of the soldiers (who previously mocked Jesus?) confesses that Jesus is the Son of God.
Truly, if what happens on the cross is indicated by the words of Jesus spoken on the cross, the effects of the cross are witnessed in the various responses to Jesus around the cross. Indeed, while some scattered (the disciples), others took his body and buried it (Joseph and Nicodemus), while others followed to see where he was buried (the women). Just the same, there were many who did not respond in faith to Jesus, but instead they departed in pride, beating their chests that they had overthrown this would-be messiah.
All in all, by looking at the crowd around the cross, we see how God was dividing humanity by means of the cross. Indeed, Jesus said that he did not come to earth to bring peace, but a sword (Matt. 10:34–39), and in his earthly ministry, John reports ongoing division caused by Jesus’s teaching (see John 7:43; 9:16; 10:19). Indeed, for all who presume that the cross is simply a love letter to wayward sinners, the crowd around the cross tells a different story. For in the crowd, we see genuine faith and hard-hearted unbelief, just as God intended.
Truly, while a division has run through humanity since beginning, the cross of Christ is the sword that makes that division clear. Changing imagery, just as a zipper, when it is pulled down a jacket widens the divide, so too the cross widens the division among the crowd. And we who want to know Christ in truth and obey him in faith, do well to learn the lessons of cross and the crowd.
A Good Friday Series
To that end, we are going to begin a new Good Friday series looking at the various individuals and groups at the cross. As the image illustrates, this group includes the disciples, the chief priests, the soldiers, Peter, Judas, Simon of Cyrene, Pilate, and Barabbas. By looking at each of these people we can learn something about the cross and its effects.
For in truth, the cross is not simply a historical event or an inert symbol of redemption. The cross is the effective means by which God in Christ divides the world. As salvation and judgment is the two-fold pattern of redemptive history, we can see how the cross accomplishes the purpose of God to bring the kingdom of God from heaven to earth and to save his people by separating them from his enemies (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1).
Truly, for all who follow the crowd to other places, spaces, altars, and assemblies, there is no crowd more important than this one. And yet, being in the crowd of Christ is still not enough. For as we will see, there is a way to be near to the message of the cross and far from the throne of grace.
And thus, with God’s help and from God’s Word, we will consider how to benefit from the cross of Christ, and what it means that Jesus died on the cross for our sin according to the Scriptures. Truly, the Gospels do not simply tell us what happened to Christ on the cross. They also point the camera on the crowd, and by paying close attention to the cross and the crowd, we can see more clearly who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.
And then by seeing with eyes of faith, we can draw near to him to receive grace in this age and glory in the next.
Come join us tonight at 7:00pm as we begin to look at The Cross and the Crowd.
What do these things have in common? For starters, each of these events draw a crowd.
Indeed, since God commanded his image-bearers to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 9:1–7) and scattered the nations over the earth (Genesis 10–11), crowds have been forming. This is true nationally, as the Lord has gathered people into various places (Acts 17:26), but this is also true socially, politically, and religiously, too.
Naturally, certain events have drawn men, women, and children to gather for the purpose of seeing something. Indeed, in the list just provided, it is not just the events themselves that draw a crowd, it is the activity of the event. It’s what the crowd might see.
Every fall, fans crowd into 100,000-person stadiums to see their team win the big game. Likewise, the day after Thanksgiving lures shoppers to see what deals they might find. And more tragically, whenever a gruesome car accident clogs the arteries entering a city, those commuters who are late for work still manage to slow down and look. By nature, we are drawn to look and see and behold the glories of the world.
Crowding to See the Divine
As God made the world, he filled it with things to see. And one of the most human aspects of this world is the way that men and women go out of their way to search for things they want to see. Indeed, while faith is based on something more than sight (2 Cor. 5:7; cf. Genesis 13), there is something deeply spiritual about seeing the divine. And crowds will travel the earth to see the divine.
For instance, it is estimated that during the Jubilee celebration of 2025, 35 million people will visit the Vatican, with 100,000 coming for Easter Sunday. Likewise, every twelve years, close to a quarter of a billion (yes, billion with a B) Hindu pilgrims attend the Kumbh Mela religious festival in India. These pilgrims travel to the confluence of the Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik, and Ujjain Rivers, where they will bathe in the polluted waters in order to atone for their sins. Closer to home and to our own religious tradition, events like T4G, TGC, and the SBC have drawn thousands of visitors as well.
In short, crowds are both natural to humanity and necessary for spiritual formation. Admittedly, crowds can gather for religions that are more deadly than a thirty-car pileup on the highway and crowd sizes are never fully indicative of spiritual truth. Nevertheless, crowds are a part of God’s plan for bringing salvation to the world.
The Church as the Crowd of Crowds
As Jesus declared in Matthew 16:18, “I will build this church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.” In making this declaration of ecclesial success (ecclesial = having to do with the church), Jesus promised to gather a crowd. Gloriously, that crowd will not be limited to location, language, or chronology. Rather, the promise of Jesus’s universal church is a declaration that he will gather a crowd from all the crowds of the earth. This why the angels sing in heaven:
“Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:9–10
Truly, the church of Jesus Christ is the crowd of crowds. And one day, all those who hear the voice of their shepherd will be brought near to the throne of God. And there around the throne, they will gather with the countless multitude (Revelation 7) and sing praises to the Victorious Lamb. Meanwhile, all those who refused the voice of the Lamb, they too will come. But their time at the throne will be short-lived, as they are summarily dismissed and thrown into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20). Such is the great divide that will take place on that day (Matthew 25:46).
A History of Gathering and Dividing the Crowds
Still, that final division which Jesus describes in Matthew 25:31–46 only completes what Christ has been doing since the dawn of time. Truly, from God’s promise in the Garden of Eden that he would bring into the world a serpent-slaying seed (Gen. 3:15) until the birth of that serpent-slayer in Bethlehem (Matthew 1–2), the crowds of humanity have been divided repeatedly.
Cain and Abel were the first division in the human race. But quickly, this division would reach Enoch and Lamech (Genesis 4¬–5), as well as Noah’s family being set apart from the rest of humanity. After the flood too, Shem, Ham, and Japheth would be divided (Gen. 9:18–27), along with the nations that came from their descendants (Genesis 10–11). Moving to Abram, we see another long series of divisions: Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Israel and Egypt, and finally Judah and Ephraim.
Long story short, the history of redemption is filled with crowds. Some gather to worship God rightly, by attending the festivals in Jerusalem as the word of God commanded (see Leviticus 23). Yet, other crowds formed to worship the gods wrongly, whether at Dan or Bethel in the northern parts of Israel (2 Kings 12), or at some other megalithic structure. In all of these places, however, these various crowds gathered around competing altars. And this history reminds us that there is a fundamental divide in humanity—between those who are the children of God and those who are children of the devil (see John 8:39–47). But ultimately, what makes this difference come to light is the way that men and women see. And specifically, what they see when they look at the cross of Christ.
Seeing is Believing
As Jesus will say in Matthew 6:22, “The eye is the lamp of the body.” Which means that what a man sees or doesn’t see will largely determine the character of that man’s life. Explaining this metaphor further, Jesus says, “So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness” (Matt 6:22b–23). What Jesus teaches here is that the eyes determine the light or darkness of a person’s life. And of course, Jesus is not just describing the physical organ (the eyes) that can be improved by Lasik surgery. He’s addressing the spiritual condition of a mankind.
In this world, men will pursue the things that are pleasing and attractive to them. And because every individual is made in the image of God, they will be drawn to spiritual realities, religious experiences, and altars of worship. The question is not whether, but which. All men worship, but not all worship in Spirit and Truth. And as we will see, the difference has everything to do with spiritual (in)sight.
Though we may scoff at the devotees who run to see the Pope or bathe in the waters of the Kumbha Mela, Westerners are equally devoted to seeing our idols. These idols may appear on social media, at the IMAX theater, or in the arena. But do not turn a blind eye to the spiritual formation that comes from seeking our secular idols. Truly, the one who goes with the crowds of modern materialism is just as blind as the Hindu priest in India. Only more so, if they cannot see the spirituality of the mall.
Still, for all the ways that the crowds follow their eyes and invite you to follow them, there is one place and one crowd that stands above them all. And that place is the cross of Christ.
The Cross and the Crowd
Notably, when Jesus is taken to Golgotha and nailed to a tree, there is a crowd that forms. As Luke 23:27 puts it, “And there followed [Jesus] a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him.” Indeed, as Jesus goes to the cross he is not alone. But rather he is surrounded by a crowd. And that crowd consisted of the spectators who lamented his death and even more by the rulers, the priests, and the soldier who mocked Jesus and hurled accusations at him.
Ironically, some of the people we would expect to be at the foot of the cross are missing. Of Jesus disciples, Judas has betrayed Jesus; Peter has denied Jesus; and of the twelve, all are scattered and missing, except for John. From the cross, Jesus addresses many of his onlookers, but only John and his mother Mary receive a word of instruction. In John 19:26–27, he says to his mother “Woman, behold, your son!” And then he says to his beloved disciple, “Behold, your mother!” Indeed, this is one of Jesus’s seven sayings on the cross.
Yet, for all that Jesus says on the cross, there are plenty of things that the crowd says too. For instance, the two thieves, who are hours away from death, debate about how to respond to Christ. Many passers-by hurl insults at Jesus, while one of the soldiers (who previously mocked Jesus?) confesses that Jesus is the Son of God.
Truly, if what happens on the cross is indicated by the words of Jesus spoken on the cross, the effects of the cross are witnessed in the various responses to Jesus around the cross. Indeed, while some scattered (the disciples), others took his body and buried it (Joseph and Nicodemus), while others followed to see where he was buried (the women). Just the same, there were many who did not respond in faith to Jesus, but instead they departed in pride, beating their chests that they had overthrown this would-be messiah.
All in all, by looking at the crowd around the cross, we see how God was dividing humanity by means of the cross. Indeed, Jesus said that he did not come to earth to bring peace, but a sword (Matt. 10:34–39), and in his earthly ministry, John reports ongoing division caused by Jesus’s teaching (see John 7:43; 9:16; 10:19). Indeed, for all who presume that the cross is simply a love letter to wayward sinners, the crowd around the cross tells a different story. For in the crowd, we see genuine faith and hard-hearted unbelief, just as God intended.
Truly, while a division has run through humanity since beginning, the cross of Christ is the sword that makes that division clear. Changing imagery, just as a zipper, when it is pulled down a jacket widens the divide, so too the cross widens the division among the crowd. And we who want to know Christ in truth and obey him in faith, do well to learn the lessons of cross and the crowd.
A Good Friday Series
To that end, we are going to begin a new Good Friday series looking at the various individuals and groups at the cross. As the image illustrates, this group includes the disciples, the chief priests, the soldiers, Peter, Judas, Simon of Cyrene, Pilate, and Barabbas. By looking at each of these people we can learn something about the cross and its effects.
For in truth, the cross is not simply a historical event or an inert symbol of redemption. The cross is the effective means by which God in Christ divides the world. As salvation and judgment is the two-fold pattern of redemptive history, we can see how the cross accomplishes the purpose of God to bring the kingdom of God from heaven to earth and to save his people by separating them from his enemies (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1).
Truly, for all who follow the crowd to other places, spaces, altars, and assemblies, there is no crowd more important than this one. And yet, being in the crowd of Christ is still not enough. For as we will see, there is a way to be near to the message of the cross and far from the throne of grace.
And thus, with God’s help and from God’s Word, we will consider how to benefit from the cross of Christ, and what it means that Jesus died on the cross for our sin according to the Scriptures. Truly, the Gospels do not simply tell us what happened to Christ on the cross. They also point the camera on the crowd, and by paying close attention to the cross and the crowd, we can see more clearly who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.
And then by seeing with eyes of faith, we can draw near to him to receive grace in this age and glory in the next.
Come join us tonight at 7:00pm as we begin to look at The Cross and the Crowd.
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