Transforming the Crowd

Made Flesh

This week’s lectionary text focuses on a well-known story from the Bible. It combines two famous events involving Jesus’ reported miraculous acts: feeding the five thousand and walking on water. But within these amazing acts are details that may reveal more than we first realized.

The story begins with Jesus traveling during His ministry. He crossed the Sea of Galilee, went up a mountainside, and sat down with His disciples. A large crowd followed him, drawn by the signs and miracles He performed.

The Gospels seem to make a clear distinction between the crowd and Jesus’ disciples. When a crowd gathers, there’s a certain energy or spirit that draws people in. It’s easy to become part of the crowd, which can foster unity and cooperation by setting aside differences. Crowds also offer anonymity and often form spontaneously, especially in tense situations or in scandals. That can lead to mob behavior, which is why crowds are often stereotyped, fairly or not, as fickle.

And yet, it’s within the crowd that the miracle begins to unfold. Our text humanizes the crowd by emphasizing the boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish. Crowds represent many of us. As Dr. Willie James Jennings notes, a crowd is often a gathering of hurt and hungry people.

As mentioned above, there’s an effort to separate the crowd from Jesus’ disciples. However, Dr. Jennings suggests that the crowd actually is the condition of discipleship. The text invites us to see the crowd through the lens of compassion, much like Jesus did in His ministry. This perspective disrupts the typical dynamic where the crowd relates to the victim or a revered figure in a transactional way.

By reexamining the concept of the crowd through our text and Jesus, it disarms the usual triggers of rivalry, conflict, scarcity and scapegoating. Jesus didn’t avoid or reject the crowd; instead, he invites us to change how we perceive it. This perspective is relevant in my ministry experiences with urban poor communities. Often, these communities are conditioned to relate in transactional or survival-focused ways, especially with those who hold power, resources, and social status.

Those who work with the poor can also get caught in these power dynamics, creating an unhealthy codependency where both sides are affected. René Girard discusses “victim power,” where those advocating for a cause or group may use concerns for victims as an ideological tool without substantial impact on the ground. The victim or the crowd becomes an ideological pawn in this dynamic.

Recognizing these dynamics helps us grasp the challenge of having honest conversations to move beyond transactional relationships. Jesus invites us to participate in healing the wounded and feeding the hungry, urging us to transform how we relate to one another. This transformation is where we’re called to walk alongside Jesus, fostering deeper, more compassionate connections.

Dwelling Among Us

How do we relate with those we consider part of the “crowd”?