Crowds

Recently I was hoping to grab a quick bite to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, but when I got there the line was out the door. I was disappointed by the crowd there because I didn't have time to wait and eat my favorite tacos. At the same time it affirmed in me that I wasn't the only one who thought highly of those tacos.

 

Crowds are interesting. When we see a crowd we avoid them, but at the same time crowds draw our attention to things we weren't aware of before. So in that sense, we both avoid crowds and follow the crowd at the same time. What a paradox. If it wasn't for crowds I probably wouldn't know as much about this world as I would have without them, so crowds aren't all bad. But then again crowds can be anything but good. When the crowd makes us do things we wouldn't normally do, that’s bad. And when the crowd makes us lose our individual identity, that’s bad as well.

To crowd or not to crowd?

Jesus dealt with crowds a lot. During His ministry as He had more and more impact in this world, He always drew a crowd, which in turn created bigger crowds. And because of that, the crowd became both a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. If it weren't for the crowd a lot of individuals would have missed hearing the good news, but at the same time if it weren't for the crowd a lot of individuals would have been able to hear His message of hope. Another paradox!

Crowds contain two types of people, those who are there because they like what happening and those who are there because they just like being a part of it.

When it comes to His crowd, which one are you?