In the synoptic gospels the crowds play a fascinating role in driving Jesus away from the masses. In Luke it says they were “pressing in on him” to hear him. Elsewhere the crowds are so forceful and voluminous, they threaten his safety. This reminds me of the paparazzi chasing down celebrities and the often tragic consequences. But I’ve never heard a person of faith ever suggest that people press Jesus too much, endanger his life like that. But it does say that.

When the people try to get what they want, Jesus eludes them. When they try to kill him in his hometown, he is able to walk through the crowd, as if by magic. Now, he gets in a boat and recruits some disciples. This, too, seems suggestive of how Jesus might respond to our own desires, demands, declarations about his direct support of our lives. Are we pressing Jesus now, when we keep asking for his help, expecting him to fix things for us that we have direct control over?

Is it possible that Jesus is avoiding us now?

It probably isn’t so absolute as that (at least I hope it isn’t). But isn’t part of the problem of faith now that we are so individually focused, obsessed with our own needs and convictions and desires, that we can’t see that we are desperate for help — while the person next to us is exactly the same, and the person next to them, and them, them, them, them, and a whole crowd of people desperate for themselves, for their own relief from suffering (even if for someone else), that we are all the exception to the rule, pressing on Jesus to help us.

A crowd of people, like a wall, surround Jesus in the gospels and pressure him to save themselves or their loved ones. And Jesus runs away from them. Not because there isn’t need, but because the crowd, in its selfish individualism, becomes a mob.

American life, with its obsessive individualism and selfish economic priorities makes it hard to tell when we’re the disciples and when we’re the crowds. And most of the time, I suspect the answer is yes.