rumors

There is a verse tucked away in Luke’s account of Jesus’ life that you’ll miss if you aren’t looking closely enough. The verse is sandwiched between two dramatic, action-filled events. In the first, Jesus meets a man possessed with an evil spirit. In the second, he is tracked down by a desperate father pleading with him to come and heal his dying daughter.

There is nothing necessarily spectacular or impressive about this verse. It is not the foundational structure for any great theological doctrine, though I think it should be. It is a simple grouping of words that God has used to cause massive change in my life. Since I’ve noticed it, I find that I can no longer skip over it or sneak by without a confrontation. It has become the elephant in the room.

“Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him.”

Some translate the word waiting as expecting. The people were expecting Jesus; they were waiting for Jesus. Somehow they got word that Jesus was on the other side of the lake; that Jesus was heading their way. As a result, a crowd gathered; and they waited. A crowd always seemed to gather around Jesus. Read through the gospels and mark every place you see the word crowd and take notice of it.

Rumors of Jesus showing up often sent people running. People either ran to Jesus or away from him. Two reactions usually happened around Jesus. They were either amazed or they were angry. Broken people ran to him. The self-righteous, religious people usually had the hardest time with his presence and they tended to run away from him. They didn’t exactly know what to do about it. At one point, they decided they must get rid of him, because they said, “Look! Everyone is running after him. If we let him go on like this, the whole world will believe in him.” And at that point, John writes that they made a decision to get rid of him.

Nevertheless, here, on the edge of the water, a crowd had gathered. There were always crowds around Jesus. Jesus was the Master of living life. Nobody lived life like Jesus did. In him was life. So naturally, since people are wired for life and are seeking it, they were drawn to Jesus. Life—-real, true, and full life is what we want. It can only be found in Jesus; nothing else.

The crowd was waiting for the arrival of Jesus. They were simply looking and they were waiting. They were attentive and they were consumed with an undivided focus. So, when Jesus arrived, they were there to receive him.

This act of waiting and looking is a simple act. Passive. Not much was accomplished, in fact it seemed like a group of people just hanging out, sitting around doing nothing. But perhaps what they were doing was and is most important. Perhaps they were doing what mattered most. What do you think?

That’s what I want to be about. I want to be a person who is constantly on the look-out for Jesus. I want to see with new eyes. To do so I think I must stop skimming surfaces and filling my life with trivialities and relentlessly pursue a life that is lived slowly and unhurried; one that contains depth.

And I think the world needs this; the world needs people who are deeply acquainted with Jesus. I have a hunch that those are the people who help us see and hear.