Ten Important Insights Basic to a Proper Understanding of the Life of Christ (Insight #8)

The child of God is much advantaged to come to grips with the life lived by his Savior.  I would suggest that the insights to be listed here are essential to a proper understanding of that most wonderful of all lives, and thus that the believer is well advised to consciously and deliberately include these realities in his conception of that life. 

#8 – Jesus remained a wildly popular folk-hero–the object of almost universal popular fascination–until the last week of His mortal life.  Indeed, that popularity crescendoed until it imploded climatically on Tuesday of the Passion Week.  This enduring and increasing popular fascination impacted Jesus’ ministry in three very important ways:   
 
a. It deceived the apostles and disciples of Jesus, persuading them that in fact Jesus’ claims were being broadly accepted, and thus making it difficult for those disciples to accept His prediction that He would die at the hands of the leaders of Israel.   

b. It enabled Jesus to escape the murderous hatred of His official enemies; they longed to take Him, but they could not because they “feared the multitude” (Mt 26:5; Mk 14:5; Lk 22:2).           
The dynamic here is somewhat distinctive to the Roman Empire and thus demands some explanation.  Every Roman governor had two basic duties: collect the taxes and keep the peace.  Although the Romans did not allow the Jews to exercise capital punishment [Jn 18:31], the officers in Judea had learned to look the other way if the Jews were to spirit away some inconsequential offender and put him to death [a la Stephen, Ac 6, 7]. Because Jesus was so wildly popular, the Jewish authorities could not simply seize him and stone Him.  They were fearful that if they were to do so there would be riots; if there were riots the Romans would find and severely punish those responsible.  Thus …

c.  It forced Jesus’ enemies to involve the Romans in the execution of Jesus.  Further, those enemies worked hard to get Him on the cross before the town woke up on Friday.  (Remember that what Jesus’ enemies, as well as the Romans, had ringing in their ears was Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of the passion week.)  However, when the town did awake, the Sanhedrinists were amazed and delighted that the populace had suddenly turned against Jesus (see a. above).

(Insight #9 will be posted soon!)