14^th December

“A huge crowd kept following Him (Jesus) wherever He went, because they saw His miraculous signs as He healed the sick.”

John 6:2

When Jesus walked the Earth, He attracted crowds of both people willing to hear His message, people attracted by His miracles, or those trying to trap Him into saying something worthy of death (i.e. Something blasphemous or against Rome). Yet wherever He went and for whatever reason, crowds would follow Him. Isn’t it interesting that nothing has changed, more than 2000 years after His ascension. He still attracts the crowds, and still the crowds are divided as to why they are talking about Him or following Him. Yet the ones who followed Him, clinging onto the very words He spoke, are the ones who benefited most from Jesus’ life and words.

See we too can just be followers of Jesus, almost wandering around trying to catch a piece of the miraculous, as if Jesus was some circus show in town, entertaining the crowds with His wonders. Yet that is not what Jesus was about at all. He was and is so much more than just miracles, signs and wonders (that is not to say they are not important). It was and is Jesus’ life giving, world transforming words, His substitutionary sacrifice and His character transforming works that we hold on to so dearly. That is why we follow Him, and so many across the world do too.

Our challenge for today is to fully understand and answer the question ‘why am I following Jesus?’ May the Spirit help you to answer in the same way Peter did when challenged by Jesus…

“Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.”¹