This week's news [heading 3]

This week’s news stories raise all sorts of questions in my mind about people’s motives. Was Peter Cruddas so naïve as to think that he could offer influence in return for big donations to a party, and ways round the legal ban on overseas donations, and still not get caught?

If a News International subsidiary company really did use dirty tricks to kill off a competitor, what does that tell us about the motivation of at least some people in big business?

And how might all of this help us to understand what was going on in Jerusalem during the fateful week which began with Jesus being cheered into the city?

Reflection

The notes in ROOTS AAA (page 19, second column) say that ‘people can be fickle, prey to many pressures’. Were the people who cheered the procession on the Sunday the same people who shouted for a crucifixion just five days later? And what might their motives have been? Were they simply following the crowd or were they really persuaded that one man needed to die for the people (John 11.50)?

When people running businesses bend the rules, is it the market place and the fear of competition which motivates them? And what about those raising money for what they see as an important cause who look for ways round legal constraints? Have such people convinced themselves that it does not matter or merely that they will never be found out?

Few people have the degree of influence of those in the news stories, but are we all guilty of bending rules occasionally?

When morality breaks down, or the rule of law is ignored, the consequences can be far reaching. Legal sanctions are important, but in the end public attitudes matter most. If most people, most of the time, think they can get away with it, then there is a risk that a rule-based society will break down. The absence of the rule of law in much of Afghanistan and Somalia makes it very hard for them to develop economically. Where the rule of law is weak and unreliable – as in Russia – economic activity suffers. Unless people can be trusted to keep their word, even a simple economy cannot work, let alone a modern, complex one.

Are we as fickle as the Jerusalem crowd in the first century? We are no longer swayed by high priests. But are we too easily persuaded by the media and by advertisers? If a celebrity cook is going to use an unusual ingredient on TV, shops need to be told to stock up to cope with the run on it. Yet it is sometimes suggested that the more cookery programmes we watch on TV, the less we actually cook in our kitchens.

And how many people will enjoy the new series of The Apprentice? What is the attraction of watching people on TV compete with each other? Do we like watching people who bend the rules and do each other down? If so, how different is that from the behaviour of the Jerusalem crowd?

Prayer

A prayer of confession

Loving God,
forgive us when we are tempted to join the crowd unthinkingly.

When we have mixed motives, give us wisdom;
when we think we can get away with it, help us to see the bigger picture;
when we are tempted to take risks, give us discernment;
when we act in ways which may damage other people, help us to see their impact.
As we contemplate the story of this most Holy Week
give us grace to understand what Jesus endured for us
and forgive us when we fail to live up to high standards.
In the name of him who died and rose again,
to bring forgiveness to all people, Jesus Christ or Lord.
Amen.

Intercession

In your prayers of intercession remember all who are tempted to join the crowd:
those who fear that if they make a stand they will lose their jobs;
those who have too often done things they regret and find it really hard to change; and
those who simply find it easier to ‘go with the flow’.

Questions

• When do you stand out from the crowd and why?
• What action might you take to resist the blandishments of advertisers and the media?
• Conscientious objectors – to religious uniformity and to war – have been a significant – if minority – part of the heritage of Christianity in Britain. In what circumstances can it be right to resist the law, especially when it is properly and democratically made?

Action

Are there TV programmes you should not watch, or products you should resist, because they encourage you to follow the crowd? And what are you going to do about it?

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Young People

Do you usually follow the crowd? If you do, what might make you more willing to choose a different course of action? And if you do not follow the crowd, why not, and how does it feel to be different?

Dudley Coates is a Local Preacher in the Bridport and Dorchester Methodist Circuit and a former Vice President of the Methodist Conference.

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