Mob Psychology: Who are You?

Acts 7:51-60

The Message

51-53 “And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, you’re just like your ancestors. Was there ever a prophet who didn’t get the same treatment? Your ancestors killed anyone who dared talk about the coming of the Just One. And you’ve kept up the family tradition—traitors and murderers, all of you. You had God’s Law handed to you by angels—gift-wrapped!—and you squandered it!”

54-56 At that point they went wild, a rioting mob of catcalls and whistles and invective. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, hardly noticed—he only had eyes for God, whom he saw in all his glory with Jesus standing at his side. He said, “Oh! I see heaven wide open and the Son of Man standing at God’s side!”

57-58 Yelling and hissing, the mob drowned him out. Now in full stampede, they dragged him out of town and pelted him with rocks. The ringleaders took off their coats and asked a young man named Saul to watch them.

59-60 As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, “Master Jesus, take my life.” Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear, “Master, don’t blame them for this sin”—his last words. Then he died.

Saul was right there, congratulating the killers.

The place was Jerusalem, the time, soon after Jesus was crucified. The people in the story were believers of Jesus. And Steven was a man, chosen by the people and given responsibility by the apostles to preach. The scripture says that Stephen was brimming with God’s energy. He was doing great things, and many people were becoming believers.

There were some freed slaves among these early Christians who tried to argue with Stephen. They perhaps thought they knew more than he did, but Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit, and so they were no match. They plotted against him. They bribed witnesses to lie to the chief priests, saying that he cursed Moses and God, and said that Jesus would tear the temple down and throw away their laws.

The chief priests looked at Stephen and could see that he had a face like an angel. They asked him to explain himself. Stephen then told the history of the Jewish people, and how people strayed from the word of God, over and over; they worshipped false Gods, and they bore the consequences. Just before the scripture that we read this morning, is this passage from Acts 7, when Stephen says:

51-53 “And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, you’re just like your ancestors. Was there ever a prophet who didn’t get the same treatment? Your ancestors killed anyone who dared talk about the coming of the Just One. And you’ve kept up the family tradition—traitors and murderers, all of you. You had God’s Law handed to you by angels—gift-wrapped!—and you squandered it!”

Obviously the chief priests weren’t happy, and the crowd wasn’t happy. No one likes to be called such names as traitors and murderers. What is the saying? You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar? Stephen was using vinegar, wasn’t he? And it didn’t work well for him.

This is where we pick up this morning’s scripture. The mob takes Stephen to the edge of town and stone him to death. Saul looks on and congratulates them.

A horrible story, right? Yet so full of humanity. So what we are going to do now is examine each of the characters, and find you. Strap yourself in, we are going for a ride!

We begin with Stephen. He is filled with God’s light and love, so much that he shines of it. He is so filled with God’s love that he hardly notices them dragging him out of town. So filled, he asks God to forgive his murderers. Think of a time in the last week or two when you have been filled with Grace and looked at someone who you might not feel matches you in intelligence, wealth, demeanor, or what have you. Instead of the old way of looking at them with distain, you felt compassion. Perhaps even shared some of your wealth and kindness with them.

Next, let’s look at those freed slaves who felt threatened by Stephen’s holiness and wit. They were jealous, so they spread lies and even bribed some people to testify against him. We read about these types of people daily in the news today, what with all the trials going on around the country. Lawyers being paid to lie and bring false testimony; media personalities being paid to spread lies – that they even know are lies – to the population.

This morning we are looking closer to see when we are like these people. So, if you can, think about a time in your life when you told lies about someone you knew, or when you were jealous of someone and told yourself lies to make being around them more palatable. We all do it. Especially with family, since we feel we must stick around and do the honorable thing. So we tell ourselves that we are the martyr, and that we are the good one. We make up stories about the other, based on jealousy and fear, that may or may not be true. This is human nature, but we grow as humans when we can look squarely into the eyes of our past self and admit it. Take a second, don’t be afraid, and confront yourself.

Next we look at the chief priests. These are the ones who weren’t sure about Jesus and who may or may not have been responsible for his crucifixion. They are pious, they have been given the responsibility of keeping and interpreting the Jewish law. They have studied very hard to get to their position. Let’s assume that they think they are always right.

When they looked at Stephen, they could see he was graced by God. It was evident. But when asked to explain, they grew tired of listening to their history, which basically condemned their ancestors for not following God’s law. And that God then punished them. Can you imagine how these Holy Men felt when accused of murdering Jesus? So now, think of a time when you might have thought you were thinking and acting in a good way, and someone accused you of being bad. It could have happened when you were young. How mad it must have made you feel! Your anger may have been towards a parent or a teacher; someone in power over you.

Now we look on at the mob. All these people were sitting around the temple, listening. They do not know that what they were hearing from the bribed witnesses are lies. They believe that Stephen has been speaking against Moses, Jesus and God. They cannot hear the meaning of Stephen’s words when he speaks about the many times their ancestors went against God’s word. And instead, they turn around and do exactly what Stephen has accused them of – they became the traitors and murderers. They worked as one, dragging him, stoning him.

Have you ever been to a place when you were swept away with the emotion of a crowd? Perhaps went to a concert and did what everyone else did? Or at work followed a rule that you didn’t like, but everyone else was doing it? Acting in such a way so you wouldn’t be out of place? Perhaps even broken a law rather than look bad in front of your peers?

There is a whole psychology around what happens in a mob because people will do horrible acts, even murder, that they wouldn’t do alone. Our need for community can sometimes go deeper than our need to do the right thing. Take a moment and think about a time when you followed the crowd and did something that you are not proud of.

Then there is Saul. He looked after the coats of the ringleaders who he admired. He did not cast a single stone, but he congratulated those who did. There are many times in our lives when side with “the mob”, but don’t partake. Perhaps in the last few years, you took a side about Black Lives Matters, or about abortion, or guns, or Donald Trump. There were many opportunities to protest. If you joined in the protest, you probably know what being in a mob feels like. It can feel VERY good, even heady, because you are supporting the “right” side, at least in how you believe it to be.

But maybe you didn’t march or protest. Maybe you stayed home and cheered, like Saul. You chose a side, felt good about your choosing, but did not act on your convictions. I’m sure Saul thought he was doing the right thing and picked the right side, just as you did.

And you probably judged Saul harshly today. It is a natural tendency to pick the side that the story wants you to pick. Yet, I never read that Jesus said to judge anyone for anything. Instead, he said to love everyone, including yourself and including your neighbors, and including your enemies. Not judge them, instead just send them love.

So, if you thought you were right to stand by and root on the protestors of whatever movement you support, you are Saul. Can you send yourself love and compassion, and stop judging? If you protested, can you send love to yourself, even though you were acting like the mob that killed Stephen?

Remember here, the quote I have shared often from Dr. King: “Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

Now let’s return to Stephen. Because I bet there is a lot of Stephen in you too. Let me remind you of the passage:

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, hardly noticed—he only had eyes for God, whom he saw in all his glory with Jesus standing at his side. He said, “Oh! I see heaven wide open and the Son of Man standing at God’s side!”

59-60 As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, “Master Jesus, take my life.” Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear, “Master, don’t blame them for this sin”—his last words.

Here he was, full of the Holy Spirit, seeing God. As he was dying, he was not feeling sorrow for his life, but for the lives who got lost in the mob. He forgave them.

Maybe we don’t know what it is like to be suffering and dying in such a horrible way, and then to have enough grace to forgive your murderers. But you may have had a chance to confront those who have caused you some suffering in your life. Hopefully you were able to speak to them about how they made you feel, and to let them know what consequences their actions had. Perhaps you even may have had a chance to see your own part in that event, and asked for their forgiveness. And if you haven’t, it’s not too late. You can forgive those who murder your spirit, because they don’t know what they are doing. They are only doing what they think is right in their mind.

We are all of these characters from this story, throughout our lives. Sometimes we are the brave one, speaking our truth. Sometimes we lie to gain money or favor. Sometimes we judge others, thinking that we know more. Sometimes we follow the crowd and do what they do, sometimes we stand by and cheer others on, not getting too involved. We are all of them.

You see, we are all starring in the story of our lives. It is as though we are in an impromptu play all day, every day. When it all comes down to our death and the end of the play, though, how do we want to go out? Which character that we examined today would make us proud to have played our part?