Popular Demand

When I hear “back by popular demand”, I am sometimes a bit suspicious, especially if I had never heard of the product or service. It sounds like the product or service was incredibly popular and I’m sort of wondering why it was taken away in the first place.  Our population does in fact make demands all the time. In the United States we have lots of freedoms that we celebrate. We have “popularity contests” to elect leaders of our local, state, and national government.

I’ve often felt like political leadership is often an impossible situation. The leader is leading with so many diverse opinions and ideas and they can’t all be correct.  When a leader is only doing what the people he’s leading want, he/she is not really leading – they are taking orders from the most popular position.

I’ve never been much of a fan of Pilate, the Roman Governor at the time of Jesus trial. He doesn’t appear to be a strong leader at all.  He interviews Jesus and finds Him innocent of wrongdoing or law breaking.  Yet he lets the crowd (popularity) lead. Check this out…..

⁶ Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner—anyone the people requested. ⁷ One of the prisoners at that time was Barabbas, a revolutionary who had committed murder in an uprising. ⁸ The crowd went to Pilate and asked him to release a prisoner as usual.

⁹ “Would you like me to release to you this ‘King of the Jews’?” Pilate asked. ¹⁰ (For he realized by now that the leading priests had arrested Jesus out of envy.) ¹¹ But at this point the leading priests stirred up the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus. ¹² Pilate asked them, “Then what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”

¹³ They shouted back, “Crucify him!”

¹⁴ “Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?”

But the mob roared even louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵ So to pacify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified. (Mark 15:6-15 NLT)

Popularity is a fickle principle. What can make you popular today can make you despised very soon. The winds of popularity are often unmeasurable or manageable. I respect a leader who leads from his/her heart even if I disagree with their position.  It’s hard to discern with political leaders if they are leading from conviction/heart or popular opinion. I do realize that they have a responsibility to the constituents who elected them, but they also have a responsibility to their position of leadership.

I do realize that what happened with Pilate (the popular leader) fulfilled the prophesy of scripture and was a part of the plan from God the Father. I just think that I can learn about leadership from this part of the journey of Jesus to the cross.

I want to be a discerning leader. I want to be a wise leader. I want to lead from conviction and heart NOT simply pacify the crowd. Leadership is a calling. Leadership is a burden. Leadership is important in nearly every environment.

Pressing On!

Dwayne