Wed, Aug 26, 2009
The Crowds and the Disciples
When I first started reading, this passage stuck out to me. There are two distinct groups of people here – the crowds and the disciples. In the preceding chapter, Matthew tells of the great crowds following Jesus – his fame had spread throughout the whole region because he was preaching and healing – Matt. 4:24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them.
This was part of the role of the Messiah as outlined in Isaiah 9 and 35. Jesus himself uses this in Matthew 11 as proof to John the Baptist the he is the promised deliverer of Israel. However, Jesus also has harsh words for the crowds that follow him. John 6 tells of Jesus’ response to the crowd after he feeds the 5,000. They track him down on the other side of the Sea of Galilee and seek to make him their king. He rebukes them saying “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of loaves.” After this sermon, “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”
Often in the gospels you see the crowds following Jesus because of the things that he can give to them or the miracles that he performs for them. However, in this verse, he sees the crowds and goes up a mountain then his disciples come to him. The crowd is not even willing to climb the mountain to be with Christ; they abandon him at the first sign of work. How often do I do this in my life? I am fine with Christ as long as it benefits me and he is blessing me, but don’t you dare ask me to climb a mountain for him! I fear there are many out there who have this mentality all the time. They do not want to be a disciple who follows Christ to the hard places and sits at his feet to hear what he would say and are instead content to receive only blessings. In this case the crowd missed out on what is possibly the best sermon in the history of the world delivered by the very mouth of God! How much have we missed out on in life by being a part of the crowd instead of a disciple?
This was part of the role of the Messiah as outlined in Isaiah 9 and 35. Jesus himself uses this in Matthew 11 as proof to John the Baptist the he is the promised deliverer of Israel. However, Jesus also has harsh words for the crowds that follow him. John 6 tells of Jesus’ response to the crowd after he feeds the 5,000. They track him down on the other side of the Sea of Galilee and seek to make him their king. He rebukes them saying “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of loaves.” After this sermon, “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”
Often in the gospels you see the crowds following Jesus because of the things that he can give to them or the miracles that he performs for them. However, in this verse, he sees the crowds and goes up a mountain then his disciples come to him. The crowd is not even willing to climb the mountain to be with Christ; they abandon him at the first sign of work. How often do I do this in my life? I am fine with Christ as long as it benefits me and he is blessing me, but don’t you dare ask me to climb a mountain for him! I fear there are many out there who have this mentality all the time. They do not want to be a disciple who follows Christ to the hard places and sits at his feet to hear what he would say and are instead content to receive only blessings. In this case the crowd missed out on what is possibly the best sermon in the history of the world delivered by the very mouth of God! How much have we missed out on in life by being a part of the crowd instead of a disciple?
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