A Large Number!

Thursday, January 22, 2026

1 Sam 18:6-9, 19:1-7; Mk 3: 7-12

Today’s Gospel highlights people’s faith in Jesus. 

The text highlights the large crowd that gathers around Jesus from regions like Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, Jordan, Tyre, and Sidon. The mention of these towns and people from them all thronging Jesus presents a lot to think about. The idea of the crowd pressing in on Jesus is a testament to who Jesus was and how he was known among people. 

A hurried reading might lead to the conclusion that people flocked to Jesus because he was a wonderworker. But such facile reasoning does not adequately explain who Jesus really was. Hence, we perceive that there is something more and beyond Jesus’ appearance. 

Reading and reflecting on the Gospel description, we may safely assume that the large crowd was attracted to Jesus because it saw God in him. Or Jesus was the only way they could experience the presence of God in their midst. Hence, apart from a narrow or reductivist outlook that Jesus was a wonderworker, we find Jesus’ ability to mirror God in who he was and in what he did. It was the experience of the Divine in Jesus that pulled such a crowd.

Jesus, who radiated God, also tells us something about evangelization. If evangelization is announcing the Good News of God, the messenger cannot be alienated from the message. In other words, we do not just carry the message from God but God Himself. That is the right way to think of evangelization. 

Hence, decoding Jesus’ identity necessitates that we see beyond mere appearances. The vision of God in Jesus made it irresistible for people to gather around him. 

Jesus invites his disciples to be God bearers. Successful evangelization is revealing the God in us.

Let us pray that people may witness the God in us as we go about living our daily lives. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar