As two of my friends and I got off the school bus back in the 10th grade and started walking to our homes, one of them started to express his thoughts about a girl he wanted to ask out.
As he continued to speak about this young woman, his speech quickly devolved into something resembling trash. My other friend felt inspired and added his bit of colourful language to the discussion.
While I felt uneasy about the direction their conversation was heading, I must admit I felt the temptation to join in. In high school, I was super awkward (not that I’m not awkward now) and easily gave into peer pressure. Sounds cliché, but I just wanted to fit in with the “cool kids” – whatever that meant back in 2005.
As their conversation continued, I remained quiet,… until they asked me for my thoughts. I quietly mumbled something under my breath and then I remember blurting out …. “Really!?” Caught off guard, while laughing, one of my buddies said, “What?! You wanna buy her flowers and go for long walks on the beach?” It was such a frustrating situation to be in, because my 15-year-old self didn’t want to give into peer pressure, but at the same time, I didn’t want risk my “social status” by coming across as super cheesy.
I just shrugged off their comment and went home not saying anything. Later I felt ticked-off at myself, for not having the integrity and courage to hold my friends accountable for their words.
We All Feel the Pressure
Unfortunately, the world of peer pressure doesn’t end with our teenage years. Peer pressure, for some, can return vigorously in their family, professional and social life. I was surprised to discover how much pressure my wife felt from other moms once she started to take our oldest, Marian, to kindergarten. Thankfully, Jennine quickly learned to deal with it.
The Humble Confidence of Jesus
We even see immense pressure on Jesus in today’s gospel reading. The dominant religious leaders in First Century Palestine hated Jesus message. Jesus claimed to be God and for man to claim that he is God was blaspheme and was punishable by death.
The apostle John writes, “He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders were looking for an opportunity to kill him.” (John 7:1).
Yet, in the face of danger, Jesus repeatedly confronted the Pharisees and even rebuked them with their own Scriptures, the Torah. People quickly took notice of Christ’s boldness. One day when Jesus was in Jerusalem someone from the crowd recognized him and was surprised to see Jesus casually wondering around and engaging crowds: “Is not this the man the authorities are trying to kill? And here he is, speaking openly…”
Later, in the passage Jesus, courageously confronts the Pharisees in the temple accusing them of rejecting God because they are rejecting him. The authorities even tried to arrest him after a confrontation (verse 30).
Jesus knew he was God and knew that he would vindicate his claims through his death and resurrection, so he stood firm in the face of opposition.
The stakes were high for Jesus. Not only was his credibility was on the line, but his life.
The pressure and the fear that the authorities instilled in the people must have been great. We can safely make this assumption because Peter – the leader of the apostles and the early church – denied Jesus three times. Moreover, all the apostles abandoned Jesus, with the exception of John, at his crucifixion. They were terrified of being associated with Jesus, lest they face a similar fate.
Many of us will never face a situation where we will be tempted to cave in the face of death. Yet we do face situations where we may feel pressured to gang up on someone verbally or speak uncharitably about people behind their back. I am certainly not immune in these circumstances.
Before entering into a situation where I know pressure to cave will be immense, like an extended family dinner for example, I pray for the grace to have humility, charity and love for the people I’m engaging.
Jesus didn’t give in because he was rooted in the confidence that he is God and that he will conquer the grave. Our confidence can be rooted in the same truth, that Jesus is God, he vindicated himself by rising from the dead; therefore, we can live with confidence by the principles he taught without compromising with sin.
Let us pray,
Loving God, we thank you for our baptism. Through our baptism you claimed us for your own. Give us the confidence and charity to not give into pressure in the face of injustice. Most importantly, keep our families and frontline workers are safe. Finally we pray for the souls of those who recently passed into eternity. We pray you invite them into the peace of your Kingdom and console their families. We make this prayer through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
