At the Foot of the Mountain

Beloved People of God,

The older I get the more I’m convinced the longing for “new” is universal. I can’t think of a culture or language that doesn’t hold dearly to the experience of hope and promise of newness. This longing is inherently human. It brings out the best and worst in us. Our eagerness for the new leads us out into the cold of winter, surrounded by strangers into culs de sac and city squares. We want hope and we want it with others!

I remember our family climbing up on the flat roof our home in Dakar to ring in the new year, with sparkling grape juice generously poured into plastic flutes, waiting for the fireworks to shower the skies. Somehow—although at times it felt like it would never come— 2020 had finally coming to an end! From a distance we waved at neighbors and hoped for the beginning of something new.

In the same way, 2000 years ago the masses flocked to Jesus in search of the new. Nothing about Jesus was status quo. He taught with authority. He proclaimed the kingdom of God. He healed every disease and affliction (Matthew 4.23). Everyone wanted to witness the teacher walking around Galilee. Matthew tells us how the people (laos) and the crowds (ochlos) followed Him from place to place. It may be surprising to us how Matthew makes a distinction between these two groups. For Matthew, the people are a unified entity. They are like the citizens of the same city-state. The crowd, however, is a mixed menagerie of seekers and skeptics, a mob with shifting allegiances that could turn at any moment. Like wheat and weeds, they may be hard to tell apart here at the start of his gospel (Matthew 13.24-30).

Together, the people and the crowd are led to the foot of the mountain, and together they receive the truth. Here at the start of this new year, we find ourselves moving with the masses toward the place where Jesus is sitting, bringing to all of us the fullness of the Law and the fulfillment of the Prophets. Beloved, may the Lord speak to us as His people amid the crowd. May we be united as His disciples, ready to receive His Word and serve all the men, women and children who gather around us this new year. 

For His Name’s Sake,

Brett