A Stroll in the Park

## Crowded

A "great" crowd accompanied Jesus. Of course, the word "great" can be subjective depending who is telling the story, but following the life of Jesus throughout His ministry, we can assume it's more than a few people. There also is a contrast when Luke describes a crowd accompanying Jesus and when Jesus says to that crowd, "If anyone comes". The word "accompanied" in verse 25 also can be worded as “traveling along”, and the word "come" is dealing with an object moving towards a reference point. When I take my daughter to a specific park to swing, I would use the latter word since we are going to do something specific. If we were ambling along with nothing in mind to do, that would be the former word. A great crowd was traveling with Jesus, then He informed them the stroll is over. He has a specific or reference point in mind to go to, and if they want to continue then they must do certain things. In other words, you have to have a specific ticket to go to a certain destination, otherwise, you'll end up somewhere else. Following Jesus is meant to lead you somewhere specific, and isn't just a generic stroll in the park.

## Self-Check

Is Jesus a generally good guy and someone who had good advice you can follow, or is He something much more? You can either accompany Him to the dinner table, then leave or you can sit down and have a conversation. Are you going for a stroll in the park or going to swing?

## What about Them?