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Follow Jesus: Resist

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The path of least resistance…   it is not only established by physics and natural law…   it is part of our human experience as well.

Things naturally progress according to the path of least resistance. It is easy to go downhill. It is difficult to go uphill. People naturally progress according to the path of least resistance too. It is easy to go through life with no conflict, no challenge, and no struggle. It is difficult to go through life resisting evil, challenging the status quo, and fighting for the greater good.

Jesus walked a path of MUCH resistance. Jesus resisted two systems that tried to coerce his allegiance: The Roman Empire and the Religious Institution. Both systems oppressed people and drove wedges between people and God. The power of the Roman Empire would not allow any higher authority. The Religious Institution would not allow any other Law. To follow Jesus means to resist any system of human authority that tries to unseat God.

This resistance begins to come to a head when Jesus enters Jerusalem. He enters in accordance with the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9: Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. The religious leaders are furious because they think Jesus is a blaspheming heretic. The Roman authority will soon take action because they think Jesus is a rebel.

When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” 32 So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They said, “The Lord needs it.” 35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

Do you notice what the Pharisees say at the end of this Scripture? “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” And, of course, Jesus does and continues to resist because it is God’s will and plan that he is executing…   not the will and plan of the religious elites or the Roman empire. He replies: “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out”, because there is no way to undo God’s will and plan.

But just because there is no way to undo God’s will and plan doesn’t mean it is easy. In fact, doing the will and plan of God, in a world full of human-made laws and human-made empires, will necessarily require resistance and will necessarily lead to much hardship. Too many Christians are tempted to just ‘go with the flow’ of the world instead of taking a stand for good and for God and RESIST.