(with Luke 19:3; Mark 2:4; Luke 8:45)
Crowds around Christ. Crowds gathered daily around Jesus Christ. He was thronged, pressed, almost persecuted, by the ever-accumulating multitudes. It is evident that this was not always, if it was ever, an advantage. The crowd was rather hindersome than helpful.
I. What of the crowds around Jesus Christ today? Who are they, and what is their social effect? There is a crowd (1) of nominal followers; (2) of bigots; (3) of controversialists; (4) of ceremonialists.
II. See how difficult it is for a simple-minded and earnest inquirer to find his way to Jesus Christ through such throngs. (1) As a question of mere time, they make it difficult. (2) They distract the inquirer's thoughts. (3) They chill the inquirer's ove.
III. Against this set the glorious fact that there is no crowd, how dense or turbulent soever, through which an earnest inquirer may not find his way. There is a way to the Master seek and thou shalt find; the Master, not the crowd, must redeem and pardon the sons of men.
Parker, City Temple,vol. i., p. 193.
Reference: Matthew 20:31. W. F. Hook, Sermons on the Miracles,vol. ii., p. 194.