James Surowiecki published The Wisdom of Crowds in 2004. It has proven itself as an influential text. Even today, two decades later, people are familiar with the title and its core meaning even if they have not read the book. 

The big idea of the book is how putting our minds together produces better results than thinking alone. At least theoretically, all of us are smarter than any of us. 

I love working with coworkers who are so much smarter and wiser than me in so many areas. Rather than consider their advanced intelligence through envy, I’ve learned to listen to them with great appreciation. They see what I cannot. They hear what I do not. Together, we can shape ideas into beneficial actions of the best intention to honor God and serve others. 

Jesus asks, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” The answers show us another side of crowd psychology. Sometimes, someone influential says something that is not true, but because he or she said it, people will believe it or bend their allegiance away from the truth enough to accept it simply because of who said it. This is true even outside of election years.

Jesus was not John the Baptist. Neither was he Elijah. Nor was he any of the prophets from the good old days when preaching judgment was necessary, and now that it was not aimed at the contemporary crowds, popular. Hellfire and brimstone were always a good idea for those people back then. Mercy and compassion is what we need now, goes the thinking.

Jesus was Jesus, and nobody else. Better yet, Jesus is Jesus, and he’s all we need. 

When Jesus asked, “But you, who do you say that I am?” Impulsive Peter proved that he was right at least half the time. This is the one question we want to get right. It’s not for crowds to decide who Jesus is. It’s for us to decide, and not only to decide, but to commit. 

Peter said it right: “You’re the Messiah. You’re the one we’ve waited on.” (Please forgive my putting words in Peter’s mouth. That’s a very Crowd thing to do, isn’t it?)

Peter was right. But it wasn’t long before he was wrong again. Yet after the Transfiguration (Luke 11), and after the resurrection (Luke 24), he became the Crowd Influencer, showing and telling the full measure of what it meant for Jesus to be the Messiah, the Savior, the Risen One.

Think your own best thoughts. Discuss them with those who are smarter, better, and faster than you. Decide and commit when you have all the evidence.

Listen to the crowds who study ideas with intention and openness to learning and change. Decide and commit when they are right, and only then.

Trust whatever Jesus says and do whatever he asks. He’s always right even when we cannot yet see it. 

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I will listen to Jesus and do what he says.

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Our Father, give me the discernment necessary for understanding what I hear from crowds. Give me friends, colleagues, mentors, and teachers to clarify what I am learning and sensing. Give me your clear truth regarding how to live and how to serve others in your name. Amen.