Are you willing to swim against the flow?

Yesterday was Palm Sunday.  As many of you know it is the day celebrating the Triumphal entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem.  People welcomed him as he rode in on a donkey (which many scholars will tell you that they are not sure that it really was a donkey that he rode on), they waved palm branches in a welcoming gesture as they yelled, "Hosanna in the highest."  Talk about a wonderful welcome.  But Jesus knew what the next full week would bring and it was nothing like the welcome he received that day.  Things would turn sour, and fast.  The same crowds that yelled the happy, joyful welcomes of above would soon yell "crucify Him, crucify Him!"  Talk about an about face.  Talk about going along with the crowd.  My dad used to ask me in high school, "if your best friend jumped off of a bridge would you do it too?"  Well of course I wouldn't, that would just be foolish.  I think the point that he was trying to make was if everyone else does a certain thing, will you?  In the story of the Holy week I wonder how many people just followed the crowd because they were too afraid to stand up for what they truly believed.

What about the many people that just happened to be there that week and watch the scene unfold. Here's how I see in my mind the story of one fictional person:  Usually there is not that much excitement in Jerusalem but today there is something big going on so I am going to follow the crowd and see what the fuss is all about.  Hey look, it's that Jesus.  He's the one that everyone has been talking about.  He sure is a kind man....a good man.  Why are the religious leaders treating him this way?  I like what he believes and teaches.  I mean I was the one that laid down the cloak for him when he rode into town.  Why are they hurting him?  I follow the crowd further as they take him to 

Pontius Pilate.  Surely he will set him free, for he has done nothing wrong.  The crowd begins to get antsy.  They begin to yell things that I don't like.  I'm here in the middle.  If I don't comply they may arrest me, they may hurt me.  I believe what this Jesus is saying but I can't afford to be put in jail over one man.  So I join in the crowd and I scream, "crucify Him, crucify Him!"  Everyone is doing it so they must be right.  "Crucify Him, Crucify Him!"  I have a sick feeling in my stomach as I yell it but there's no turning back now.  We head to where the crosses will be put.  Everyone is laughing and mocking Jesus.  So I do too.  It feels kind of good to be a part of the "in" crowd.  I've never felt this type of comradery before.  And then......Jesus dies.  The ones who I thought would be my buddies since we shared this common idea are now laughing and dispursing to who knows where.  I am left looking up at the Jesus that less than a week ago I welcomed and now betrayed.  I feel disgusted with myself and can do nothing about it.  Jesus is dead and I attributed to his death.  What have I done?  What have I done?  Was it that important for me to follow the crowd?  

If I knew then what I know now I would realize that the crowd wasn't that great to follow.  Why didn't I stick up for Jesus?  Even if it meant going to jail.  Why didn't I just not yell those horrible things?  I knew deep down that the "crowd" would turn on me in an instant if need be but I just had to be a part of it.  I just had to fit in.  It doesn't feel so good now.  I have to go home and tell my family that I betrayed the only man that could have saved the world--the man that we joyfully welcomed to town just a few days earlier. 

Sadly, in this day and age, we often do the same thing.  Oh we don't yell "crucify Him!" and watch him die a slow death, but we follow the crowd.  At work we may go along with the crass joking or mocking of Christians just so we don't have to "get into it" with someone.  At school we make sure no one knows that we are Christians and just go with the flow.  We see Christians being pushed around and made fun of but we don't stick up for them because that wouldn't be the popular thing to do.  We have to admit that oftentimes we go along with the crowd.

I want to challenge you this Holy Week to go against the flow.  I remember a t-shirt my husband had where there where tons of fish swimming in one direction and one that swam in the opposite.  Will you be that fish?  Will you go against the crowd and follow Jesus no matter what the cost?