The Crowds that Greeted Jesus when He Entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday are NOT the Same People Who Wanted Pilate to Crucify Him!

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When I was a kid going to Catholic elementary school in Chicago, I was taught by the nuns that the people who greeted Jesus when he entered Jerusalem saying, “Hosanna to the son of David” (Matthew 21:9) where the same ones who told Pilate, “Crucify him, crucify him!” (John 19:6) Imagine my surprise when I heard from a documentary called, “The Week That Changed the World” that the people who sought Jesus to be crucified were not the same people who greeted Him when He first arrived! This is according to Dr. Paul L. Maier.

Dr. Maier bases his reasoning on Scriptures in Luke chapter 23:

Luke 23:20 Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them.
21 But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.
22 And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go.
23 And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.

The people who attended the trial of Jesus were probably not the ones who greeted Him when He first arrived in Jerusalem. They were people loyal to the priests!