Passing the Message On

I’m not very good at judging the size of crowds. If I go to an event and someone asks me afterwards how many people were there I always struggle to answer. If it’s a number I’ve been able to count on my fingers, then I’m fine but beyond that, I can’t tell if there were 50 people or 500 and my guesses are probably very inaccurate. I find it impossible to imagine what a crowd of around 5000 people listening to Jesus teaching in the open air on a hillside before miraculously being fed would have looked like.

The capacity of my nearest theatre is almost 1000 people. So, the crowd Jesus was teaching in the story of Feeding the Five Thousand was five times larger than the audience in that theatre when it’s full.

I can’t help comparing ‘then’ and ‘now’ and wondering how such a scene would unfold today.

If you’ve ever passed the loading bay at the back of an event venue on the day of a concert or conference, you’ll have seen just how much equipment seems to be necessary to make sure everyone in an audience can both see and hear what’s happening ‘on stage.’

How was everyone in that crowd on the hillside with Jesus able to hear? Although the crowd was probably huddled together as Jesus was speaking, and he had divine powers, I imagine it might have been difficult for some people in the centre or at the back of the crowd to hear what he was saying.

Were people at the front sitting quietly staring at Jesus, hanging onto his every word, perhaps nodding to the person next to them if they agreed with what they were hearing? Were others mumbling to themselves or to those around them if they were finding parts of Jesus’s message harder to respond to?

People in the middle of the crowd, might have been annoyed if people sitting behind them kept interrupting them to ask, “What’s he saying?” What about those at the back? Would some of them be frustrated that they hadn’t been agile enough to climb the hill quickly enough or arrived early enough to get a place at the front and hear Jesus’s words clearly?

What did people take away from that experience? And that miracle? How did they tell people who hadn’t been there about what happened?

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If Jesus was about to speak to a crowd in person, today, how different things would be. Doubtless, someone ‘with contacts’ could source a stage, screens and a sound and PA system, even at short notice, transported in a fleet of vehicles.

How would we feel if we were part of that crowd? Would we find the background noise or any expressions of dissent distracting, even upsetting? Would we be really excited by Jesus’s messages being passed around and the enthusiasm of the crowd? Or would we feel a bit lost and unsure of what we were hearing and what our reaction should be?  

Of course, even if we couldn’t get to the place, we’d still be able to hear what Jesus said. We might be able to watch a Live Stream, or someone else’s choice of “highlights” on the evening news or a News app on our phone.  No doubt these would include filmed interviews with Jesus, his disciples, the crowd and, later, the boy with the bread and fish.

How we shared the experience with others who hadn’t seen that would be very different too. Not only could we tell people in person but using WhatsApp, Instagram, Tiktok, X, or Facebook, for example, and I’m sure there would be countless ‘selfies’ all over social media.

The world has changed almost beyond recognition since Jesus spoke to that crowd (and others). We have so many different means of sharing and spreading the Gospel now, so many more than those people who heard at least some of what Jesus said that day.

Plus we have the advantage of being able to read and think about the things Jesus said and what others, including those who met him and enjoyed close personal relationships with him during his earthly life, said about him.

I’m not a massive fan, or user, of social media but I do enjoy sharing my experiences of faith through this blog, which I started almost four years ago and I’m investigating ways of bringing it to a wider audience.

We may not have to trek up a hillside and strain to catch his words but we should be working just as hard as his first listeners did to hear the truths behind them and pass them on. Despite changes in technology, the message hasn’t and won’t be changed.

What could, and should, each of us be doing to bring our experiences of Jesus to others?

What could YOU do today?