I don’t like crowds. I don’t like Christmas shopping, queues, traffic jams, or mass events. I don’t like crowded rooms. We all see crowds differently. Some, like me, simply don’t like them. Others like the buzz and excitement of being in a crowd. Still others can take them or leave them. Surely, this is an area that is abiblical, and area that the Bible doesn’t address.
Here Jesus had just had a successful ministry of healing all throughout the land.. He healed every illness and every sickness that He encountered. When he looked out a little later He saw a huge multitude of people. Someone like me might have thought, “I wish these people would just go away.” Others might have thought – “Yes, I love the buzz, lets get at it!”
How did Jesus respond when He saw the crowd? When He saw them He realised that this crowd were wandering without direction and without hope. He saw them as sheep having no shepherd. Of course this is a great picture of the importance of praying for labourers to go into the harvest, but I think it is important that we see Jesus heart and compare it to ours.
Jesus’ heart was stirred, moved with compassion. He saw beyond the crowd and saw individuals who needed hope. He was put off by them or excited by them – it wasn’t a crowd, but people who needed hope and direction. Crowds should have an impact on us. When we see a crowd let’s strive to see them through Jesus’ eyes, let our own hearts be moved with compassion. Let’s see beyond the crowd, and see the people.
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