Crowd
Surfing
By
Elin Henderson
“One day as Jesus was
preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on
Him to listen to the Word of God.”
Luke 5:1 (NLT)
I don’t think anyone has ever known more about crowds
than Jesus. If you read through the Gospels, you will quickly see that not only
did the crowds follow Him, they pressed in on Him. Personal space was something He did not get
the privilege of very often. The young, the old, the sick, the well, men and
women, were all drawn to Him. He spent most of His adult life crowd surfing
from one area of ministry to the next.
It was in this process of making Himself available and
vulnerable, that He was able to reach into the lives of so many. People like
the lady in Mark 5:24-34 with the problem of bleeding gained access to Him
because He was accessible! As Jesus rubbed shoulder to shoulder, and really
placed Himself among the people, this lady was able to reach Him and find
healing.
In order to reach out to a needy world, we too need to
become crowd surfers. We need to work past our fears and personal space and
allow Him to put us in places where He can use us. Too many times, we tiptoe around the edges of
the crowd and try and just pull someone in need out and help them. But to truly
be effective, we need to jump in with two feet and be willing to be used of
Him.
The hurt, the pain, the sorrow…it is all out there in
the crowds. If we want to impact a world for Him, we must be willing to throw
self-preservation out the window and to dive in feet first and be pressed in by
the crowds in order to make ourselves accessible for HIS use! Are you ready to
do a little crowd surfing with Jesus today?
GOING DEEPER:
1. What keeps us from wanting to make ourselves
fully accessible to Him?
2. If you have the time, do a little word search
either through your concordance or an electronic Bible program, for the word
“crowd” in regards to Jesus’ ministry. You will be surprised at how often it
appears!
FURTHER READING:
Oakwood’s
missionaries Elin Henderson (a registered nurse) and her husband Phil serve as
church planters with New Tribes in Mozambique, Africa. Elin is mother to
twelve-year-old Callie and ten-year-old Elias. They are currently in America on
Home Assignment.
