IN commencing a new chapter we move on in the life and ministry of Jesus. Having finished the teaching recorded for us in chapter 18 Matthew tells us Jesus moved from Galilee to somewhere in Judea. Immediately, not only is he pursued by the crowds, but also by the Pharisees. The crowds pursued him for bodily needs, the Pharisees pursued him in order to make things difficult for him, but in doing so they received teaching from Jesus which challenged their way of life.

When we read that large crowds followed Jesus it is natural to wish that the same was true today, but the fact is that the crowds followed Jesus, generally speaking, for temporal and physical help. We are told here that Jesus healed them, and this reveals to us what the crowds sought from Jesus. They sought healing from the many diseases and afflictions which humanity is prone to, and such needs were greater in those days when medical help was very limited. Jesus had compassion on them and gave them the healing that they desired, but he would have given them much greater healing, the healing of the soul, if only they had asked for it. Jesus expresses his sorrow over this in John 6:27 where he says to the people who crowded after him after he had fed the 5000 “Do not work for the food which spoils, but the food that endures to eternal life.”

It is a very sad thing that things are much the same today. People are concerned about their bodily and temporal needs, but seem indifferent to the needs of their soul. When some minister or church offers a healing ministry and majors on spiritual and miraculous gifts people flock to such ministry. The cry goes up that such should be the ministry of the church everywhere because of the numbers which flock to it. The question is never asked as to what people are really seeking, nor is the question asked whether such ministry is concerned in the same way for the salvation of the soul, or if it is whether it is given the importance that it deserves. Often the healing and the gifts have taken over, and the preaching of the Gospel is elbowed out of the ministry.

It is also true that the pursuing of miracles and spiritual gifts are mistaken for new birth and conversion, when there is no real conversion taking place. Paul dealt with this in his ministry to the Corinthian church where in that celebrated chapter 13 of his first letter, he points out that a person can have all the spiritual gifts, and perform miracles, and give all their money to the poor, but if they do not express in their life the love of Christ, which is the fruit of new birth, then with all their gifts they are nothing but empty shells, making much noise but with no real salvation in their hearts.

I believe there is something here which is of crucial importance in the church today. It is always relatively easy to gather people to a lively ministry which offers great things for the ease and happiness of the body and this earthly life. Just as large crowds followed Jesus because they wanted to see the miracles he perform, and to receive the healing that he could give, but had little concern for their eternal souls, so it is today.

It is very tempting to see a large and lively congregation as the goal of ministry, and to imagine that if such a blessing is achieved that this is necessarily a sign of real spiritual life. It may be so, and God grant that it may be so, but there must always be a searching out as to whether this blessing is real to the eternal salvation of the soul. Unless a person has had healing of the soul, and has been raised to new life in Christ, and knows what true repentance is and has truly repented, and has put their trust in Jesus alone for being counted righteous in the sight of God, there is no salvation. Without the forgiveness of sins through Jesus alone a soul is lost whatever outwardly may seem to be spiritual life.

The fact is that preaching which faithfully preaches the great truths of salvation in Christ, and expounds the great themes of justification, redemption, propitiation, conversion, new birth, being raised with Christ, mortifying the flesh, assurance in Christ, etc. these are not found to be popular, and where there is such preaching there is few who come to hear it, except in a few isolated churches. The fact is that the preaching of the cross is offensive to fallen and natural humanity, and unless the Spirit of God graciously does his strange work of conviction of sin, like the Pharisees and the crowds in Jesus day, people will only flock to where there is excitement that delights the flesh.