A Fickle Jury

June 29, 2025 | Read and Think About Luke 19:28-44

A jury is a group who decides the fate of the accused.

From this passage, verses 37-40 jumped out to me. They didn't know at the time, but the crowd of Passover worshippers who came out to greet Jesus, to shout "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord," was going to be the jury that week. Combine these verses with later passages, and we see that this "jury" pivoted a few days later and ultimately were the ones who decided that Jesus would be crucified.

But they were on His side when Jesus entered Jerusalem at the beginning of the week.

The sound of praise that day was joyful ... and very loud. I was at a tennis tournament in New York a few years ago. One of the top players - I never saw the player, so I am not sure who - passed nearby. The fans rushing to see this person was immediate. You could feel the surge of people nearby, and the sound they made surely could be heard for some distance. We've all seen that type of reaction. Think of when a famous band walks onstage to start the concert.

These do not even compare to the reception Jesus was getting as He came down the side of the Mount toward Jerusalem.

Luke tells us why the crowd was praising God this way: it was "for all the miracles they had seen."

Their joy was tied to their expectations: that Jesus had come as a powerful earthly leader to free the nation of Israel from their Roman oppressors. This is how the crowd (jury) was in that moment.

Later, we will see essentially the same crowd (jury) at a different moment, yelling much different words: "Crucify Him!"