I was swept up in two parades this week. Both held the same figure as the center of attraction. The first parade was one of exuberant welcome last Sunday. The popular teacher Jesus, came riding through the main gate of Jerusalem just as it was foretold that the messiah would come to us. I didn’t know much about Jesus or about Jewish prophecy, but I was sure up for anyone who would come and deliver me from the constant hassles of living as a subject of Rome. I got caught up in the emotion of the moment. The crowd was shouting “Hosanna”, and I did too! The crowd was cutting palm branches from the trees and waving them to usher this new king into our city, and I did too! You know the problem with palms? The problem with palms is that once you cut the branches from the tree, they don’t live long. The problem with that parade of palms is the excitement of the crowd soon withered. This Jesus just didn’t seem to be delivering on what some in the crowd claimed he could do for us. Oh, he may be a king alright, but as far as I can tell, he’s the kind of king that nobody really wants to rule! I’ve seen traveling preachers come and go with their empty promises. At worst they’re really just harmless entertainment so I’m usually indifferent about where they head next. But today it’s clear that some of the very people whose hearts Jesus deeply touched are the very same people who enjoy stabbing him in the back. I’m embarrassed that I’ve gotten swept up in yet another parade, but the energy of the crowd is contagious. Before I knew it, I was calling for his execution, captivated by his flogging and scoffing at his bedraggled hike to Golgotha. If crucifixion isn’t painful enough, our taunting must sting like salt in his wounds. But this isn’t my fault, he doesn’t know me and few others in this crowd know me either. So why do I feel so two-faced when he looks at me from his view from the cross? Even that thief hanging beside him seems more honest than me. Over against the crowd it was that thief alone who said, “This man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Have you ever attended a crowded party where things “warmed up” a bit and some of the persons present began acting in ways they would normally be reluctant to act – like cracking offensive jokes, throwing food and engaging in inappropriate displays of affection? Have you ever attended an exciting sports event at which you heard other fans trash talking with language they wouldn’t use elsewhere? Have you attended a concert where people start singing and dancing with far less inhibition than in their own living room? Certainly New Orleans’ historic prelude to our Lenten season, Mardi gras, would be far more docile without the effects of a crowd.If the restraint-reducing influence of groups were limited to such trivial circumstances, crowd dynamics would be of little consequence. But with a view from the cross, we continue to see insult added to injury even today with the fervency of a crucifixion crowd. Discrimination and verbal slurs, gang violence, race riots, looting amidst natural disaster, civilian war casualties are often the product of what social psychologists call the process of deindividuation. Deindividuation research indicates, results from the anonymity, diffusion of responsibility and social modeling that occur within crowds.First, the presence of many others in a crowd leads individuals to perceive themselves as anonymous, unnoticed and therefore immune to punishment. Second, the presence of many others in a crowd leads individuals to feel as if the responsibility for negative actions will be diffused across everyone and responsibility for positive actions can be delegated to everyone else. Thirdly, the presence of many others in a crowd offers social modeling of behavior that breaks down individual inhibitions though peer pressure. When these stars align, even the best of us can get swept up in hurtful, impulsive, insulting actions and we can even unwittingly contribute further injury to people at very vulnerable and painful times of life. Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda heads a large church in Miami, but it’s not a place you’d go to hear a sermon about forgiveness of sins or to reflect on biblical teachings of Jesus. That’s because de Jesus, or “Daddy” as he is known to his thousands of followers, says that he is Jesus and that there is no sin. De Jesus, 61, was born in Puerto Rico and claims that in 1973 after a rough childhood of poverty, drugs and prison, he had an experience of the risen Christ integrating; becoming at one with him. In 1986 he founded his church, officially called “Creciendo en Gracia”, Spanish for “Growing in Grace” now with more than 300 congregations around the world. In 1998 he declared to his followers that he was the reincarnation of the Apostle Paul and in 2005 that he is now the second coming of Christ himself. As such, he rejects the continued worship of Jesus of Nazareth and encourages his followers to protest against those who do. In response, members of his movement have disrupted services in churches in Miami and Latin America, smashing crosses and statues of Jesus.Curiously de Jesus finds that one of the most satisfying ways for people to worship him is with their pocketbooks, infusing the organization with significant wealth. Unlike the first Jesus who owned little more than a robe and sandals, this Jesus wears tailored suits and a diamond-studded Rolex watch, drives Lexuses and BMWs and owns homes in gated communities. The injury unleashed by crowd psychology, especially when fueled with cult spirituality can not be blindly dismissed. We need only remember David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidians who died with more than 70 of his followers in a self set fire and Jim Jones, who led more than 900 of his followers in a mass suicide by poison. If only the power of the crowd could be harnessed for constructive rather than destructive purposes – for affirmation rather than insult – for healing rather than injury -- for life rather than death! What if the dynamics of the crowd increased the visibility rather than the anonymity of the individual? What if the movement of the crowd challenged rather than diffused collective responsibility? What if the composition of the crowd included people who modeled positive rather than negative choices? An unlikely example of this kind of constructive crowd movement can be seen through the work and witness of Paul Hewson. Paul was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1960. He was raised by his mother Iris, a Protestant and his father Brendon, a Roman Catholic – a dangerously mixed marriage amidst the religious civil war that plagued his country. Paul was in a teenage gang that nicknamed him Bonovox, after a hearing aid store that they would frequently pass as they walked the streets. Paul Hewson didn’t realize it at the time, but his nickname Bonovox meant, “good voice” when loosely translated from the Latin. Over time his friends and family shortened the nickname to Bono, which he kept as a stage name as he rose to fame and fortune as the principle songwriter, lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the popular rock band U2. In recent years, Bono has become a good voice inspiring crowds not only with his music, but with his quest for justice. Bono is a three-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, he tied with Bill and Melinda Gates as Time Magazine’s 2005 Person of the Year and this past Friday night Bono received the Chairman’s award at the 38th Annual NAACP Image Awards for the differences he’s made in engaging Americans from all walks of life in the fight against global poverty and AIDS. One tool Bono created to motivate crowds to join him in this humanitarian endeavor is the RED movement. He persuades companies to designate products for socially conscious consumers and contribute a portion of their profits from sales of those products to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria around the world. The opening paragraph of the (Red) Manifesto reads, “All things being equal, they are not. As first world consumers we have tremendous power. What we collectively choose to buy, or not to buy, can change the course of life and history on this planet.”Early last year (RED) was introduced in the United Kingdom. In October 2006 Bono appeared on Oprah for the US launch of (RED) and by the end of the year it spread to Canada, France, Japan, Singapore and Switzerland. Sometimes products are literally red in color; sometimes they incorporate the word red in the name such as inspi(red), desi(red), and sometimes they are simply tagged as a (RED) embracing product. The impact continues to grow monthly with a list of corporate participants including Myspace, American Express, Converse, Apple, Motorola and Armani. In January GAP launched an entire (RED) spring clothing line. Inspired and financed in part by the crowds of Bono, the four-year-old Global Fund has achieved substantial results. By January 2007, Global Fund financing provided: • 770,000 people with treatment for HIV and AIDS • nearly 9 million people with voluntary HIV testing • more than 1 million orphans with care and support • 2 million people with treatment for tuberculosis • more than 22 million people treated for malaria • nearly 18 million families with insecticide-treated mosquito nets If crowds can turn from “Hosanna!” to “Crucify!” within a matter of days, the unwavering hope of our Lenten journey is that our human journey doesn’t just end at the cross! If God is revealed on the cross, then we most fully encounter God not by standing back and pointing insulting fingers at those who suffer, but by stepping forward and leading our respective crowds to reach out and enfold the least, lost and left out. Perhaps in those moments we are most clearly able to hear promise of Jesus in our closing verse for this morning, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)