"Were you there as he stood accused?"

Luke 22: 54, 63-71; Luke 23:1-5

The whole assembly, the elders and the chief legal experts, came together and accused Jesus of claiming to be a Messiah and thus usurping the authority of Caesar.  They are threatened by the teachings of Jesus and how they seem to go against the legalities of the church and state.  And when he is standoffish in his answers, responding to their questions with answers like "You say that I am, " and "That's what you say, " well, it just infuriates them even more.

This passage is interesting.  On the one hand, we have the crowd of leaders saying to Pilate that Jesus is guilty of trying to go against the leaders and stir up a following of people who will somehow try to overthrow them.  On the other hand, you have Pilate saying, "I find no legal basis for action against this man."  Pilate is saying you might be mad at him and what he is saying about religious rule and order, but he hasn't broken the law.  But the crowd of leaders insist.

The theme that comes to mind for me in this passage is 'following the crowd' versus following your principles.  Jesus and the disciples weren't following the crowd and, in this passage, at least at this point, neither is Pilate.  But the crowd keeps on insisting that things go their way. That Jesus is a threat. That he must be stopped.

What sorts of 'crowd bullying' do we give in to today?  In what sorts of circumstances do we have to stand up for what we individually believe rather than listening to the mad shouts of the crowd in our ears?  When do we stand up for the teachings of Christ as opposed to just blending in with the sea of people?

It is hard to see the crowd moving a certain way, or the leadership of an organization moving a certain way, when you feel in your heart that you can't move that way.  Many in church denominations and other organizations have felt the tug to move away from the status quo and the crowd when things don't seem to be fair.  I have talked more than one member of Niwot UMC, for example, in to hanging around for at least a while longer while the UMC tries to get its act together on LGBT issues. And it gets harder and harder for me to personally speak for the denomination all the time. I pray General Conference 2016 may change things, but I admit that sometimes I have little hope that things will become better in the near future.

In our world stage, the bullies seem to be taking center stage and harassing all of us into listening to their rhetoric, even if we don't want to hear it.  It makes you want to retreat into a corner and never come out.  But, of course, that's the fear taking over. That's what happened with Judas. And with Peter. And the others.  But not with Jesus.  He stood strong against the tide against him and thanks be to God, he let love prevail.  We should look to Jesus in times when we want to retreat. He would go away for a while alone and pray and think, but he always came back out into the crowd and kept his mission alive.  So, we need to keep our eyes focused on Jesus in this passage. On what he does.  He is the role model here.

Questions? Comments? Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below. Thanks!