Mob Rule

John 19:15 “Away with him,” they yelled. “Away with him! Crucify him!”

“What? Crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back.

Here I am, standing on the same road I stood on last week, waiting for the same guy. This time I won’t have any palm fronds, though. Early this morning my friends and I stood in the courtyard and watched Pilate condemn Jesus to death. We shouted for his blood! The Chief Priests were whipping the crowd into a frenzy, ripping their tunics and crying out about heresy and blasphemy. I heard that a few people were threatened. Either way, we have too much to risk to follow Jesus. Our lives may not be great, but they are better than they could be…

The crowd down the road begins to get louder and louder. The shouting starts and I can see the first of the soldiers trying to part the crowd so they can get through. Jesus is in the midst of this big pack of soldiers, he’s got a huge wood beam across his shoulders. Man, is he bleeding! Someone put a crown made out of thorns around his head. That’s hilarious! He said he was a king, and a king needs a crown, right? Jesus falls to the ground and the soldiers whip him. The crowd yells out at him, a couple of people even spit on him. He is lying there in a puddle of his own blood. He struggles to get up, then falters again. The soldiers grab Jesus by the shoulders and drag him down the street to Golgotha.

I open my mouth to scream at him, but words won’t come out. I stand there, mute, with my mouth open. There is something in his eyes. Even though we did a brutal turnaround in less than a week, he still looks at us like he cares about us. As he passes me his eyes bore holes into my soul. Something is wrong here, very wrong. Why are they killing this guy? What did he do wrong? What is going on here?

I walk home with my head drooping low. I got caught up in the crowd and missed the Messiah. What have I done… what have I done…

Today’s Readings:  Jeremiah 23,25; John 19

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