Friday March 26, 2021

Carried away by the crowd

They cried out together : Put this one to death and release Barabbas to us. Luke 23:18

“Whoever drags us leads us." These words from a song by Edith Piaf show us what crowd movements are. Remember the 2018 World Cup or some big events. What troubles me about this verse from Luke and the passage proposed for our reading is that we see two completely different crowd movements in it.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, a jubilant crowd acclaimed him as king. A few days later, in this same city of Jerusalem, the crowd filled with hatred against Jesus demands his death.

These days, it is not uncommon for law enforcement to be hugged or shouted at, within days of each other. And us, how do we react to crowd movements ? Are we content to do like the others or do we have, and above all do we keep, our own opinion ?

Placing our faith in Jesus must be a personal act and not the consequence of a crowd movement. Thus, our act will be sincere, precious and will come from the grace of God. For it is by grace that you have been saved, by means of faith. And it is not from you, it is the gift of God. (Ephesians 2.8)

So, let us be convinced by the testimony of the Gospels about Jesus, even if for that we have to go against the tide of the opinion of those around us.

Jose Petrocchi

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Proposed Reading : Gospel according to Luke, chapter 19, verses 36 to 40.

Source (Live Today)