My mother likes to use the word “extraordinary” a lot. We tease her about this all the time. But today, at the naval base, I read a sign, which simply emphasized why the word is reserved for exceptional situations. Sorry Mom.
“Between ordinary and extraordinary there is that little bit of Extra.”
This saying, of course, in reference to the dedication of the US military, communicates their unflinching commitment to a higher standard of excellence.
In Merriam Webster’s dictionary the definition of extraordinary is—a: going beyond what is usual, regular or customary
After reading Matthew 13-23, and observing the exceptional ways in which people responded to Jesus, it is safe to say, there was something extraordinary about Him that set Him apart from all others. Besides the disciples who immediately left everything familiar to follow Him, besides the demons that cried out for Jesus to leave them alone, and the natural elements that responded to His spoken word, besides the Jewish leaders who conspired to kill Him, and the sick who wanted healing, or those who begged Jesus to bring their loved ones back to life, besides those few who are highlighted in the Gospels, there was a crowd of numerous others who were attracted to Jesus, and gathered to Him everyday.
The crowd followed Jesus. It is impossible to know all the reasons why they came to Him, and the many burdens they carried. I can only imagine people hung on His every word, by how hard they worked to arrive where He was, and how long they lingered beyond the time they should have gone home. The attraction to Jesus had to come from His supernatural magnetism—He was fully human and fully divine in the same package—but also, I think, Jesus drew the crowd because He demonstrated God’s love through His show of compassion. At one point, just before feeding the 5000, Jesus viewed the crowd as “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd,” (Matthew 9:36/ Mark 6:34). I have felt this way before—lost, stressed, directionless and without hope. It is contrary to human thinking, in fact, it is the mind of Christ to understand people sometimes feel harassed and helpless. Jesus shoots a big hole in the philosophy of those who say we should never have any problems. Jesus understood we live in a fallen world and there are bound to be moments where we are feeling harassed, depressed, and helpless. Fortunately, it doesn’t stop there. We don’t LIVE in that place, because we have the hope of heaven, the hope of a Savior who never leaves or forsakes us. Jesus was not put-off by the crowd, even when in their distress and/or enthusiasm to be near Him, they forced Jesus to accommodate them.
One morning, as seen in (Matthew 13:1-2), Jesus goes out of the house to sit beside the sea. I can relate to that. It is one of my favorite things to do. When I sit by the sea, I don’t want a thronging crowd around me. I want space. I want the quiet rock, the isolated bench; the spot on the sand uncongested with bodies and unobstructed views of the waves. I want to spread my blanket, dig my feet in, listen to the surf and bake my body until it is golden brown…and I want quiet with no intrusions while I’m doing all of that.
Throughout His time on earth, Jesus consistently sought quiet time. He knew the crowd would come, and on occasion when the disciples tried to stop them, Jesus said, “I have compassion on the crowd,”(Matthew 15:32) and another example, “let the little children come to me and do not hinder them,”(Matthew 19:14). In the case of children, parents just wanted Jesus to lay His hands on and pray over them. Can you imagine how wonderful that would be; and how sad it is the disciples were too busy worrying about crowd control to understand the compassion of Jesus for the crowd and their children? Yet, I am the same way. I worry about the crowd, the inconvenience, and the details instead of exercising selfless compassion to extend God’s love, demonstrate kindness or make time to pray.
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