GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 10:49
Take Courage; He Calls You
Masses—crowds—are fickle. In a well-known parody of The Lone Ranger, the crime fighter and his Native American companion, Tonto, find themselves surrounded by hostile warriors. The Lone Ranger turns to his faithful companion and says, “Well, Tonto, it looks like we’ve had it.” Whereupon the sidekick replies, “What do you mean ‘we,’ white man?”
Sportscasters and fans labeled LeBron James a hometown hero, especially after he delivered championships—particularly in Cleveland. After key losses, however, the same commentators and crowds wondered whether he could “win the big one.”
In 1983, consumers emptied store shelves of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls. Parents lined up overnight to buy one of the soft-cloth dolls with vinyl heads. Fights sometimes broke out in toy aisles as parents reached for the last doll on the shelf. News outlets showed chaotic scenes of shoppers pushing and grabbing. Dolls that originally sold for $25 were resold for hundreds of dollars to parents who “had to have” one. The next year, however, many of the dolls remained unsold on store shelves. Consumers had moved on to other toys.
According to Mark, Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem with the disciples and a large crowd. As they passed through Jericho, a blind beggar sat beside the road. Upon hearing that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, he began calling out to him. The crowd tried to hush the beggar, but he cried out even louder, desperate to be heard above the din. “And stopping Jesus said, ‘Call him.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take courage, get up, he calls you.’” (Mark 10:49)
It seems ironic that the very crowd that tried to silence the blind beggar was the same crowd that, moments later, told him to take courage because Jesus had called for him.
It is reasonable to wonder how many in this same crowd would later cry out, “Crucify him!” and mock Jesus as he hung on the cross. Christianity is not a product of mass hysteria but a matter of individual conviction that endures long after the crusade has passed, the publicity has faded, and the wave has subsided.
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