John 19:15-16b (ESV)
They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
When you hang with a mob, you might end up doing something that you actually would never have done. The peer pressure to feel like you “belong” to a group is a phenomenon that sociologists and psychologists have studied ad nauseam. We tend to social buffer to stay in groups that we agree with and who agree with us. We seldom step out of those social buffer norms for fear of being rejected. However, when mob mentality takes over, we tend to leave our previous perceived norms and act out behaviors that are completely out of place from what we would normally do; completely contrary to our previous social buffered, norms. All for the purpose of staying connected with a mob. The above story gives us an example of this. The norm for an average Jewish male would be to disown himself from anything belonging to Caesar. He would reject Cesar. The Israelites were taught that there was only one God, Yahweh. Since Caesar made himself out to be a god, the Jewish male could not claim that Cesar was a King. It would be completely contrary to his normative. Yet, the above scene is an example of a group of Jewish men who have become a mob. They now have mob mentality. Mob mentality causes you to do things completely outside your norm, so these men left their norm and literally claimed that Caesar was their king. They were so obsessed with crucifying Jesus that they failed to remember who they were and what they believed. That is what a mob can do. When we join a group of people, we tend to want to be so like them, so we can reject anything outside that groups thought process; even contrary to our own internal belief system. The need to belong, and to keep ones identity to a group, will cause you to follow the mentality of the mob. This is why later we will read about Peter, who rejected Jesus and denied him three times. He simply wanted to fit into the mob. Paul warned the Colossian believers, not to be swayed by these mobs:
Colossians 2:8-10 (ESV)
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
If you find yourself wanting to belong to a mob, beware! It is not the location of the mob that will hurt you. It is not the occasion for the mob that can endanger you. The greatest danger you face is their power to captivate your mind and have you cast off your long held beliefs. “We have no king but Caesar.” was a mob mentality capturing the mind of men who were taught all their lives they had no king but Yahweh! Beware of the mob. But be more aware of mob mentality.
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