CROWDS IN THE GOSPELS

I got curious as to the various roles that crowds play in the Gospel stories. But first I had to deal with the reality that there are several Greek words that could be translated as “crowd,” not just one. I would like to zero in on one of these, ochlos, which appears over 170 times in the New Testament, roughly 150 of which are found in the Gospels. Vine points out that if the article “the” appears before the word, it indicates “the common people” as in John 12:9,12. Other English translations found for ochlos include company, multitude, number, and people.

But there are three additional Greek words that may stand for “crowd.” ethnos is the most comprehensive and frequent way of denoting a group of people, according to Bietenhard. He also states that “laos, on the other hand, is a term originating in the military sphere, and retains an archaic, political connotation. Demos connotes the public nature of the people's assembly...polis has a definitely political character, signifying a community which lives together under a legal constitution, the city state.”

So what is the special nuance of ochlos in distinction from these other three words? Vine says that it may mean a throng of people, usually disorganized or confused, “the populace, an unorganized multitude.” Bietenhard similarly defines it as “the crowd, the mass, the populace.”

In narratives such as the Gospels, “The crowd functions as a narrative character when groups are represented as sharing similar traits and acting in unison.” (M.L. Strauss) He provides a convenient set of categories, given below, to describe the various ways the crowd functions in these stories.

An indication of a person's popularity

Strauss says, “From a narrative perspective, the size of the crowd demonstrates the significance of the person.” Remember that one of the reasons Herod Antipas was afraid to do harm to John the Baptist was because the crowd admired him. And from a positive viewpoint, the Gospels over and over again stress the large crowds that followed Jesus everywhere.

Unfortunately, today we continue to look up to religious leaders who have the largest share of TV viewers, book sales, or followers on the internet as if popularity alone were the surest guide to the truth of their message and their personal sincerity. I am reminded of when I first moved to a new city and our next door neighbor said that we had to check out his church since it had more people tuning in to their televised weekly services than any other congregation in town. And another church had a large congregation who were in part attracted by the fact that their pastor had the ability to occasionally bring in a prominent personality such as Willy Nelson to perform on Sunday mornings.

Embodiment of a great need

Bietenhard explains this category in the following way: “It is especially to...people who have nothing particular to offer, that Jesus directs his teaching and his compassion (Matt 9:33), and his provision of food (Matt. 14:19; Lk. 9:16; Jn. 6:5). The contrast to these is provided by the ruling classes, the Pharisees and scribes, who despised the ochlos as the ignorant masses who did not keep the law. To them the masses were accursed (Jn. 7:31,48f).” The reason for their attitude has been attributed to the foreign or mixed population in post-exilic days. “Jesus and later Paul were accused of leading the ochlos astray (Jn. 7:12; Acts 19:26).”

Strauss adds passages such as Mark 6:34, 8:2; and Luke 4:42; 9:13 as occasions on which Jesus demonstrated his compassion on the crowd.

Representatives of the response of the general population

Strauss: “They are delighted at his repartee with the religious leaders (Mk 12:37; Lk 13:17).” But he adds that the response was sometimes less than positive (see John 7:20-21; Luke 23:48, and Matthew 27:25). In this vacillating attitude we see the typical behavior of a crowd – mob mentality or group think that is easily swayed one way or another by a forceful leader or just on a whim.

An obstacle to be overcome

This factor sometimes works against Jesus and sometimes in his favor. Thus, the great crowds prevented Jesus' free movements in passages such as Mark 2:4; 3:20; 7:33; and Luke 4:42; 8:19; and 19:2. On the other hand, in John 5:13 we see Jesus escaping into the crowd after healing the lame man with the result that Jesus did not have to face the anger of the Jews who wanted to accuse him of unlawfully breaking the Sabbath. The religious authorities were afraid to arrest Jesus on the Passover due to possible opposition from the crowd there for the festival.

A threatening force

This is another factor that sometimes aids Jesus in his mission and at other times actually threatens Him with death. For these contradictory actions of the ochlos, see the following Scripture passages: Matthew 17:20; 21:26,46; 26:47; Mark 12:12; 14:2; and Luke 20:6; 22:2,6.

A way of distinguishing the disciples from less dedicated followers of Jesus

This common usage of ochlos can be seen in passages such as Matthew 13:4, 36; 14:22; Mark 8:34; and Luke 7:11. Jesus' parables and teachings were geared toward interesting the crowds into learning more. But it was only to those who pursued Jesus further, such as the Apostles, to whom He revealed the full meaning of his teachings.