It’s possible to celebrate Jesus without actually being willing to follow Him.

Mark 11 opens with a crowd that appears completely committed. They line the road into Jerusalem, wave branches, lay their coats beneath Jesus, and shout, “Hosanna!” They recognize Him as a King and desperately want Him to save them.

There’s just one problem: they’ve already decided what their King should do.

They want Jesus to overthrow Rome, defeat their enemies, and restore their nation. They aren’t imagining a cross. They’re imagining a throne.

And we can do the same thing.

We want Jesus to fix the marriage without changing us. Bless the career without challenging our ambition. Transform the people around us without confronting what needs to change within us. We’re happy to follow Jesus when He’s walking in the direction we already wanted to go.

But what happens when He doesn’t follow our script?

That question becomes even sharper when Jesus enters the Temple. From a distance, everything looks impressive. There is activity everywhere. But Jesus sees what others have stopped noticing: a place created to connect people with God has become disconnected from God’s heart.

It’s like the fig tree Jesus encounters nearby—plenty of leaves, but no fruit.

That image should cause us to examine our own worship. We can sing, serve, give, pray, study Scripture, and participate in church while slowly allowing the activity itself to replace the One it was supposed to lead us toward.

The danger isn’t simply rejecting Jesus. It’s wanting Jesus on our terms.

The crowds want Him to fulfill their expectations. The religious leaders want Him to fit their categories. The political groups want Him to validate their causes. Everyone wants something from Jesus, but few are prepared to let Jesus actually lead.

Following Him requires something different. It means approaching Jesus without first handing Him the script for how our lives should unfold. It means trusting that His definition of goodness, freedom, success, and even life itself is better than the one we would construct for ourselves.

Jesus may not always be the King we would have designed.

But He is a far better King than we could have designed.

The invitation isn’t merely to admire Him, celebrate Him, or recruit Him to our causes. It’s to trust Him enough to follow His way—even when His way isn’t the one we expected.

Reflection Questions

1. Where in your life are you most tempted to ask Jesus to follow your plans rather than allowing Him to lead you?
2. If Jesus examined your worship and spiritual habits, where would He find genuine fruit—and where might He find activity that has become disconnected from Him?
3. What expectation, opinion, ambition, or agenda might you need to surrender in order to genuinely say, “Jesus, wherever You lead, I’ll follow”?