POPULAR JESUS

“When they heard all He was doing, many people came to Him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. Because of the crowd, He told His disciples to have a small boat ready for Him, to keep the people from crowding Him. For He had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch Him.” Mark 3:8-10 (NIV)

From the synagogue to the lake, Jesus was like the Pied Piper of Hamlyn; so much excitement that He was in danger of being trampled. The news of what He was doing had swept through the land like wildfire, even outside the borders of Israel. People came from as far away as Tyre and Sidon and Trans Jordan, and from every corner of Israel.

It’s no wonder that the people ran after Him, especially since sick and disabled people were being miraculously cured. There was no doctor anywhere that could do what He was doing. The people were full of hope that they could be cured of their diseases and delivered from their suffering.

There is a twist in this story. The people who mobbed Him were only interested in what happened to them in their everyday lives. They didn’t seem to realise that God’s kingdom was present with them. What was it that attracted them to Jesus? Was it not what He was doing for them? Here was someone whom they needed around. If He were their king, He could provide food for them, heal them, and make their lives happy and comfortable.

They had not yet grasped that Jesus was inviting them to live in the kingdom of God where He reigned in love and peace and would teach and give them the power to live with other people in love and peace.

But, amid this noise were voices from another world – demonic spirits from the unseen realm of darkness who, up to this point, had been able to do exactly what they liked with the people. When Jesus came on the scene and began disturbing their control over people, they knew and spoke the truth when they acknowledged Him because they understood His authority over them. Although they deceived the people all the time, pretending that they were in charge, they knew who Jesus was and they could not help but blurt it out because they were afraid. They were squatters in human beings who belonged to God and, when Jesus told them to get out, they had to go.

Jesus reacted to them promptly, telling them to be quiet. He did not need them to tell people who He was because every human being needs to find out for himself based on the evidence. We don’t need demons to tell us who Jesus is. We need to look at Him, listen to Him, weigh up the evidence and then decide who He is so that we can make the choice to follow Him.