FROM MANY TO FEW
“How Jesus began with many
and ended with a few.”
“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him’”(Matthew 4:23-25).
"When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father--the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father--he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:26-27).
The ministry of Jesus of Nazareth began with a splash. It seems that whenever the healer from Galilee came to a town the crowds quickly swelled to the point of unmanageability. “Surely this man is destined to have a wide impact in Palestine,” the pundits predicted, “and He will someday have the biggest synagogue in Jerusalem.” “Large crowds followed Him,” says the text. Who could dare to stop this grass roots movement?
But, alas, as the months morphed into years the popularity of this Rabbi with such a bright future seemed to fade into the background. As the heat of the leaders intensified, Jesus’ movement declined. He had once preached to multitudes but now they seemed to grow tired of His uncompromising message and many eventually walked away from Him altogether (John 6:66). Soon after that these same people could be found in the capital city crying, “Crucify him, crucify him” (Matthew 27:22). The end of Jesus’ ministry did not occur in the swell of a crowd but in a secluded upper room with eleven devoted followers and an infiltrator. The man who had impacted so many now discovered his ministry to be reduced to a few stragglers. But to them and them alone would Jesus give the greatest gift of all, the gift of knowing Him and His message.
And as we look back on the ministry of Jesus Christ we see that from the very beginning He had preached to many but invested in a few. This chosen group was with Him for all His miracles. To them alone did He explain his parables. They alone witnessed His tears, heard His stories, beheld night prayer vigils, received His reproof, obeyed His orders. None of these things were given to the crowds. They received the Rabbi as hard ground receives seed. But these eleven received Him with hearts that had been deeply plowed. No contrast could be more stark.
At the end of the gospel narratives we find Jesus focusing more intently on these men. He tells then that they and they alone will reveal to the world His truth. This they would do so in the power of the Spirit. Every gospel writer notes that towards the end of His life Jesus spent an inordinate amount of time on these eleven. No longer will He spend much time with the world. Jesus did this because He understood the law of discipleship. To reach the world one must essentially ignore the world and invest in the few. This is exactly the opposite of how ministries are run today. The pattern goes like this. A talented preacher builds a church with his communication skills and hard work. The church thrives. Then one day the man dies and within years the church struggles to survive. The reason for this is simple, the man multiplied his talents but failed to multiply disciples. Jesus, the master kingdom builder did just the opposite. At first He modeled the current church building model. He preached to many and had many followers from every region in his country. But He quickly abandoned that model to concentrate on a few. And it was through the “few” that the church moved like wildfire through the Roman Empire. Leaders who want to see the greatest expansion of the kingdom of God must purposely de-emphasize their ministry to the many and focus on the training of the few. This is quite difficult for talented men because it requires their giving up personal time, pulpit time, and free time. To pour one’s life into the few is to forsake spraying the many. You can do one or the other effectively, but not both. No doubt popular ministries that reach millions are needed in our day. But I suspect at the end of time when the hidden things shall be revealed a great phenomenon will be observed. Those who invested in the crowds will have thousands from their own congregation come forward and testify to the impact of that ministry. But those who invested in a few will watch in wonder as tens of thousands step forward from many different parts of the globe and point back to the ministry of that man who had unleashed a myriad of disciples who, in turn, had spread the gospel from sea to shining sea. From the many to the few: so it was with the ministry of Jesus.