Have you ever thought about how easy it is to get caught up in the crowd? Have you ever found yourself caught up in the excitement and energy of a crowd, without realizing why? It reminds me of when the Royals won the World Series and the parade that followed. I remember sitting there in the grass, one of the crowd. Occasionally cheering would begin so we would stand up expecting to see our favorite players drawing near, only to find out the cheering was apparently for no specific reason. At least in this example, I knew the purpose of the crowd and for the most part it was made up with people like my family, anxious to celebrate our team. But that is not always the case when it comes to crowds.

“Why is it easier and more comforting to take the middle road?” That was the question I read that prompted this line of thinking. My answer to the question is because it’s known, I pretty much know what to expect on the middle road. While it may not always be good, it’s fairly safe and there is little risk. Not to mention, everyone else is on this same middle road which makes it easier. As soon as I wrote those words in my journal I recognized the numerous flaws in my thinking.

Matthew 7:13-14 says “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and road broad that leads to destruction and many will enter through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, few find it.” Today is Good Friday, a time when most Christians will read about or at least think about another crowd. The crowd of people who were one day praising Jesus shouting “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD” and only a few short days later, find themselves shouting “crucify him!”. It makes me wonder how many of them even realized what was happening or which crowd they were being caught up in.

We know the rest of the story, which makes it’s easy to look back and understand what was happening. At the time though, I wonder if some in the crowd, just like us, forget that as Christ followers we are called to walk a different road, one less traveled. There is no doubt the road Jesus calls us to walk is a harder and riskier because we don’t know what’s ahead, only that we are supposed to follow Jesus.

But isn’t walking the wide middle road just as risky? By choosing the wide road, we are choosing to following someone. Someone is always out in front, leading the way and the crowd. Whichever road we choose, it’s taking us somewhere. The choice is ours-are we going to follow Jesus or are we going to allow ourselves to get caught up in and follow the crowd? Are we willing to take the harder road with fewer people, perhaps even standing alone or are we going to follow the crowd of popular opinion just because everyone else is and we don’t want to rock the boat or be left out?

Jesus tells us to “Be holy, because I am holy”(1 Peter 1:16) and Paul reminds in Ephesians 4:1 to “walk in a manner worthy of our calling”. Choosing to follow Jesus, means we are choosing to stand out and live differently. The few that stirred up the crowd against Jesus, shouting “crucify him”, hated him because he was different! He walked a different path than most and lived differently than the world around him. He walked the narrow road, the one His Father called him to walk. 1 John 3:13 tells us “don’t be surprised if the world hates you”, and Jesus says in John 15 that “if the world hates us, it’s because it hated him first”. Not fitting in and living differently is the price of choosing to follow Jesus and stay on the narrow road.

Even though I often fail, I believe the cost is worth it! Going back to Matthew 7, we read in verse 21 that Jesus says “Not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven”. This passage goes on to say – “I (Jesus) don’t know who you are, you weren’t following me” (paraphrase). We are called to lived differently! History shows us this was and is a continual problem for us humans. We are just like the Israelites, who kept jumping off the narrow road to follow forgiven gods and worship idols instead of God. In fact, the entire Old Testament is a history lesson for us and the importance of staying on the narrow road. But we are so fickle, we continually look for something new, different and better, only to find ourselves suddenly in the middle of a crowd shouting “crucify him” and not even knowing how we got so far off track.

I don’t know about you but I can easily fall into the trap of spending so much time and energy trying to fit in and be included that I forget that is not who I have been called to be! Honestly, I crave what the world calls normal, not only for me but for my family as well. I crave good jobs, cool vacations, husbands for my daughters, good friends – the elusive Instagram worthy life. But that is not what Jesus says, he says “be holy because I am holy”. Revelation 3:15-16 contains another warning for us in saying “because you are neither hot or cold, but lukewarm I spit you out of my mouth”. Lukewarm living is living in the wide middle road, and we have to get off of it!

This kind of different living and walking the narrow road can be so hard day in and day out. We cannot do it on our own. Thankfully we have Jesus, leading the way, walking in front of us, showing us, helping us and calling us back when we wander off. Staying on the narrow road takes us daily hitting our knees, asking God to help us.

As we move into Easter weekend, let’s choose to not get caught up in the wrong crowd. Let’s choose to walk the narrow road, following Jesus wherever it leads. And let’s invite our friends and family to come with us!