In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus prays in private (Mk 1:35), avoids crowds (Mk 1:45), kicks people out of the room before healing a little girl (Mk 5:40), retreats for quiet and rest with His disciples (Mk 6:31), leads a blind man away from the crowd to heal him in private (Mk 7:33) and quickly casts a demon out of a boy before any more onlookers could gather (Mk 9:25).

Yes, Jesus drew crowds, but he didn't TRY to draw crowds. When the crowds did come, it was because He taught with authority, cast out demons (Mk 1:27), healed the sick, and did miracles, not because He purposely tried to gather more people. I am not suggesting that Jesus didn’t like crowds. In fact, in some cases He actually had compassion on the crowds (Mk 8:1). I’m just saying that He wasn’t driven to gather and please large groups of people.

As an American evangelical, this all seems so foreign to me. He didn't broadcast His encounters with God. He attempted to avoid popularity. He took people aside for personal ministry. He tried to hide, not to be discovered.

I have been discipled to think that bigger is better, real ministry happens on a stage, that miracles are a type of spectacle and that I should aspire to these things. This is not how Jesus operated.

Eventually, it was a crowd that killed Jesus (Mk 15:13-15), and crowds might just kill us as well. We may not physically die at the whim of a mob, like Jesus did. But we may lose our souls by compromising our character and failing to sustain a secret life with God.