Weighing the Cost

We are entering into Holy Week and the events that lead up to the death of Christ. One of my favorite celebrations is the celebration of Palm Sunday. 

I love the symbolism of this event and enjoy celebrating it with the children at church. But as I was reading this morning and looking at this passage of Scripture again, something new struck me.

Mark 11:7-11 ~ 

The disciples brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and he sat on it. Many people spread their clothes on the road, and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted:

Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes

in the name of the Lord!

Blessed is the coming kingdom

of our father David!

Hosanna in the highest heaven!

He went into Jerusalem and into the temple. After looking around at everything, since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

Jesus enters into Jerusalem on a young and borrowed donkey that no one had ever ridden. It was untamed and yet, willingly submitted to a man riding on it.

The crowds are jubilant and are shouting and screaming, "Hosanna!" They are cheering and running and generally in an state of extreme celebration. They run ahead of Jesus and lay down their cloaks and palm branches. I can just imagine the sights, sounds, and chaos of that scene.

And yet, there is no feast at the end of this procession for Jesus. It seems a bit of a let-down, especially for a culture that loves their feasts and celebrations. All the passage says is that Jesus went into the temple, looked around and left for the night. It seems to be a bit of oversight on someone's part!

And yet, I think that's some of the point of this story. The people in this story that were so worked up and excited were in a frenzy because many of them were following the crowd.  They weren't intentionally following Him. They were caught up in the moment. These same people would later turn on Him. Their recognition of His lordship only went so deep. When the opportunity came for them to accept Him as Lord and stand up for Him at His trial, they turned and denied Him because the cost was too great. They ended up rejecting Him and shouting for His crucifixion.

As I reflected on that, I realized that the cost of following Jesus is a great one. There will be things we give up, say no to, and sacrifice in order to follow where He leads. We will have to deny our baser human impulses. Sometimes He will lead us on hard paths.

Is it worth it? Absolutely. But we must count the cost of what it means to be a Christ-follower or else we will be like that crowd - shouting His praise one minute and rejecting Him the next. If we haven't truly embraced who He is then we will very easily turn our faces from Him when the going gets tough.

On Palm Sunday we wave the branches, sing hosanna and have joy in our hearts. But what about when the road of following Jesus is hard and thorny and a struggle. Will we continue to follow Him or will we reject Him? 

We have to weigh the cost because that is a choice that will lead to our freedom or to our destruction.