The Test of the Bandwagon
“Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out:
‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the highest!’”
Mark 11:9-10
It is easy to follow someone who is popular and well-liked, but when he or she falls out of favor, people usually leave and follow someone else who’d give them incentives. Since everyone’s following them or doing this, we must too! That’s the bandwagon effect. I wonder if that was the case when Our Lord entered into Jerusalem for one final time.
The people shouted “Hosanna in the highest!” A phrase acknowledging that Jesus was the Savior, the Messiah, but perhaps the Messiah as they had hoped and not as Jesus truly was. They wanted a political Messiah, one that would overthrow the Romans and so free the Jewish people from their rule. But Jesus was not that kind of Messiah. His Messiahship is one that points to Heaven, the Kingdom of God. The people had their eyes on the wrong prize. And soon they realized this when Jesus was sentenced to death. They went from exclaiming “Hosanna in the highest” to “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Where do we stand? Which camp do we belong to? Are we the ones that hop on the wagon and follow Jesus when He is popular and when others followed Him, laying down our clothes and palms as He rode into Jerusalem but then once things get a bit dicey and uncertain I turn around and say “Crucify Him!” as those around me begin to do?
To be a true follower of Christ is not to hop on the bandwagon. It is not an idea or concept that we believe in, but rather a person. The Person Jesus Christ who is both God and man, the Son of God, and who is One with the Father in heaven. We believe in this Jesus who came to earth, lived among us, and died for our sins. To follow Christ is to be with Him in both the good times and the bad, knowing that He is with us through it all.
Before you are two groups: one who hops on the bandwagon but hops off when things get uncertain and the other who stays with the Lord in life and in death. Which group do you stand with today?
