The Cost of Satisfying the Crowd

Mark 15:15 ESV

15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

Satisfying the crowd always has a high price tag.  We lose so much to gain mass approval.  In this instance it required the greatest price ever paid, the life of our innocent Savior.

Pilate was more of a politican than a leader, so naturally he went in the direction that the people went. It reminds of a quote I believe John Maxwell cited in one of his books that said something like "There go my people, i am their leader, i must run quickly and get ahead of the direction they are already going". Most leaders have to be political to a degree in that they learn how to compromise or create consensus, but in this instance we see the tragedy in adopting a leadership style that has no conviction and is only focused on satisfying the crowd.

There is more that could be said about this passage from a leadership perspective, but that limits the broad impact these truths have on everyday life. The fact is that most people dont run committees, lead teams, draft up budgets or create strategic plans for organizations, but all of us our leading our lives, so how does this come to bear in the landscape of everyday life? The questions we have to answer for ourselves are "Who is the "crowd" in my life?" and "What ungodly sacrifices am i making in order to satisfy the crowd?"

The "crowds" in our lives are anything that crowd out our precious Savior as the sole focus of our lives. Anything that conflicts with satisfying the Savior essentially crowds Him out of our hearts. Pleasing people is not what needs to be avoided because it is important and necessary to please people in our lives, rather the question is if we are pleasing them at the expense of our Lord. Are the opinions of people more important than God's standards? Everytime we please people above God that is essentially what we are saying. As i continue to follow Christ i find that the "crowds" in my life are not always a physical group of people, but many times they are memories, cultural expectations and even deceased people.

The key to break free from this cycle is to ultimately find more value and worth in our Savior's precious blood than in the opinions and desires of people. Only a focus on eternity can free us from the tempora enslavement of majority approval. May we choose wisely!