The Crowd
๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ฃ
โข Recall a time when something highly recommended to you (food, movie, book, etc.) failed to meet your expectations. Why did it fall short?
โข Share a time you had to change your plans because of unexpected circumstances. How did you handle it?
โข Have you experienced peer pressureโhaving to do something just because everyone else was doing it? What happened?
๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐
๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ, โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ธ๐ด?โ ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ, โ๐๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ช๐ง๐บ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ.โย ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐ฑ:๐ญ๐ญโ๐ญ๐ฏ
The Jews who had welcomed Jesus with glad and open arms at His triumphal entry (Mark 11) were most likely the same crowd that called for His crucifixion just a few days later. Leading up to the crucifixion, Jesus was brought before the Jewish council, and then to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Pilateโs custom was to release one prisoner chosen by the public at the Passover feast. In this case, he asked the crowd if they wanted him to release Jesus, because he knew Jesus was only on trial from the envy of the chief priests (Mark 15:10). However, the chief priests convinced the crowd to choose Barabbas, a murderer. Today, weโll reflect on two questions on following Jesus and how it can apply to us today.
๐ญ. ๐ช๐ถ๐น๐น ๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ณ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐บ ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฒ?
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, ๐ธ๐ข๐จ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, โ๐๐ฉ๐ข! ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด, ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด!โ ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐ฑ:๐ฎ๐ตโ๐ฏ๐ฌ
As Jesus entered Jerusalem, the Jews cheered, believing that He was the warrior king who would save them from the Romans. However, they were bitterly disappointed in Him. They remembered He had said He would ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด. Now, He looked helpless, weak, and nothing like the warrior they had hoped for. They gave up when the Christ they envisioned didnโt show up as they had expected. What did you imagine life with Jesus would be like? What was your โexpectation versus realityโ moment of following Jesus?
๐ฎ. ๐ช๐ถ๐น๐น ๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ณ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ปโ๐?
๐๐ฐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, โ๐๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด; ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง. ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ด๐ณ๐ข๐ฆ๐ญ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ.โ ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ. ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐ฑ:๐ฏ๐ญโ๐ฏ๐ฎ
As Jesus was about to be crucified, many of the people around Him mocked Him openly. The soldiers placed a purple cloak and crown of thorns on Him, calling Him the King of the Jews (Mark 15:16โ19). The chief priests and scribes also mocked Jesusโ words, remembering Heโd said He was the King of Israel. The crowd was also easily swayed (Mark 15:11โ13). Even the very disciples of Jesus had betrayed, abandoned, and denied Him (Mark 14). How do you think you would respond if no one around you were following Jesus? Is there anything that could keep you from following Jesus? Would you follow Jesus even if it cost you everything?
๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก
โข Reflect on your expectations of following Jesus. What steps can you take to remember His goodness and refocus your faith in spite of challenges?
โข Think about a time you felt isolated in your faith. How did you respond? What steps can you take to stand firm in your belief, even when others waver?
โข Is there an area in your life where youโre tempted to follow the crowd instead of Jesus? Pray for Godโs guidance and strength to stand firm in faith.
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ
โข Thank God for His unwavering presence in our lives, and ask God to know Him more beyond our limitations and expectations. Thank Him for His faithfulness in spite of our faithlessness.
โข Ask God for courage to stand firm in faith in spite of pressure and opposition.
โข Pray for a heart that is steadfast in following Jesus, no matter the cost. Ask God for an opportunity to speak of His goodness to your friends or family today.