It's easy for us now to look back and assume that we would've been one of the faithful streaming to Jesus, leaving everything behind to listen to him teach, to watch him heal. Even the evil spirits knew who he was. The crowds poured to him... until they didn't.
At certain points, everyone turned and left him, often for challenging teachings. The Pharisees saw the same things as everyone else and hated him. The masses watched him perform miracles and yet shouted for his crucifixion.
We look back and wonder how this could have happened, how this miraculous teacher who came with grace could have been opposed by so many and worshiped by so few.
That reality certainly does put an end to the idea that Jesus was nothing more than a nice teacher. If that's all he was, then he surely wouldn't have roused such opposition.
Jesus came with Truth, and that is challenging for us all. Martin Luther called the human heart a factory of idols, and we come up with countless things to worship other than God. I'll confess that I worship comfort, health, and a good reputation, among other things. If I had lived then and ran to see Jesus, how would I have reacted when he challenged me to give those false idols up? It's hard to do that, even when the Truth, when something far greater, is being held out and offered as a free gift. Our hands are often so full that it's hard to let go of anything to take on something new. I wonder if this isn't why Jesus was so successful at converting tax collectors and others who were forgotten by society -- their hands weren't so full that they were prevented from grasping what Jesus offered.
The crowds rushed to Jesus, and we rush to him, too. I pray that we hear his challenges, but that through it all, we hear the grace, too. May we know that there is healing, true healing, on the other side of those challenges, and that the one who teaches wants the best for us, wants eternity for us, and will pay any price, even his own life, to be in full relationship with us.
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