"freedom vs. obedience, the horizontal vs. the vertical, the magisterium vs. the sensus fidelium"
None of these are opposed to one another.  Each set is a both / and proposition.  The sensus (which includes not only the lay but the clergy and not only the "now" but also, as Chesterton has it, "the vote of the dead") is part-and-parcel of the magisterium.  It doesn't mean lay public opinion or new practice that runs counter to the that of the ordinary authority.  Similarly, "horizontal vs. vertical" is a false dichotomy.  Finally, freedom and obedience; if God is the center of our lives, there is no binary distinction between the two.  Obedience is not blind, but a variant opinion does not negate an authority that is properly exercised.

"Jesus came to understand his mission by listening to the laments of the people."
That's just an errant statement.