Ministry to Minitudes

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Dear Friend,

We know very well that Jesus frequently ministered to multitudes, hundreds here, thousands there. But have we forgotten He also ministered to "minitudes" - very small groups of three or four, or two, or even one needy soul? All four gospels record our Messiah's ministry to the minitudes.

Matthew records Jesus deliberately walking by his tax stand in Capernaum just so He could call Matthew (Levi) to follow Him (Matthew 9:9). Mark records Jesus interrupting His busy itinerary to go to one man's (Jairus') home to raise his dying daughter (Mark 5:21-43). And on His way there, Jesus stopped to commend and encourage one desperately sick woman who, among thousands of others, touched Him in faith and received an instantaneous miracle of healing (Mark 5:25-34). Luke records that Jesus made a special trip to Jericho just to call out, lunch with, and proclaim salvation over one notoriously sinful chief publican, Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10). No hundreds or thousands here! And this is just a small sampling.

John's Gospel highlights Jesus' close attention to the few by emphasizing His personal ministry even more than His public ministry. Let's review John's emphasis on the minitudes.

* Jesus won one new disciple, Nathanael, by revealing He had supernatural knowledge of him long before the two met (John 1:47-51).

* Though Jesus was a wildly popular rabbi with attentive thousands hanging on His every word, He held a night class attended by only one  student, the learned, distinguished, and open-hearted Jewish teacher, Nicodemus, just to show him the way of salvation (John 3:21). And all the evidence confirms Jesus' one-person class bore fruit (John 7:50-52; 19:38-40).

* While traveling, Jesus stopped near Sychar by Jacob's well just so He could converse with and convert a Samaritan woman living in open sin (John 4:7-26).

* Amid His hectically busy festival-week schedule, Jesus took time to visit the pool of Bethesda just to heal a man who had been crippled for thirty-eight years (John 5:1-16).

* While conducting an early morning teaching in the temple courts, Jesus stopped to mercifully save an adulteress from a hasty execution at the hands of a group of merciless scribes and Pharisees - and then faithfully warn her to stop sinning (John 8:1-11).

* While passing by a man born blind, Jesus stopped and healed him (John 9:1-7). And later, after the man had been put out of the synagogue for defending Jesus, Jesus came to minister to him privately by compassionately revealing who He was and reassuring the troubled man he had done the right thing (9:35-38).

* Four days after being summoned to heal His beloved friend, Lazarus, in Bethany, Jesus made a special trip there to restore the faith of Lazarus's two sisters and resurrect Lazarus (John 11:1-44).

* When Pilate interviewed Jesus privately, Jesus ministered to Pilate some of the most profound truths He ever uttered concerning His mission and kingdom, all in a compassionate attempt to save the erring governor (John 18:33-37; 19:9-11).

* Even when suffering, Jesus continued His ministry to the minitudes. While on the cross, Jesus gave crucial guidance to Mary (John 19:26) and to His intimate disciple, John (John 19:27). After His resurrection, Jesus made a special appearance just to correct Thomas' stubborn unbelief (John 20:26-29). Some days later, Jesus appeared by lake Galilee to give Peter some crucial personal ministry: a ministry mandate (John 21:15-17), a prophecy of his final days (21:18-19), and a rebuke for being a busybody (21:20-22).

* No ministry to hundreds or thousands here! And we're not finished.

On Jesus' second visit to Nazareth, He was unable to work many miracles, as He had in other villages, due to the prevailing unbelief of His fellow synagoguegoers. But instead of allowing the majority's unbelief to stop Him, He carried on by ministering healing to "a few" who sought His miraculous touch (Mark 6:5). Interestingly, since Jesus already knew His family, who were in that synagogue, still openly rejected His ministry (3:21), He surely suspected most of their fellow synagoguegoers would reject Him, as they had earlier (Luke 4:16-30). Yet He made this ministry trip anyway, again subjecting Himself to the Nazarene's verbal abuse, just to minister to these "few."

All of this merciful ministry to the minitudes was not lost on His apostles.

Years later, His Spirit led Paul to Athens. When speaking on Mars Hill, Paul's preaching failed to convert many, yet a few believed and turned to the faith, "Dionysius, the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them" (Acts 17:34). These were not the large-scale results for which Paul, or we, would have hoped. Yet Paul's work was not in vain in Athens and he knew it. Many were not saved and brought into the kingdom, but a few were. So, we may assume he gave thanks for these few, ministered wholeheartedly to them (see Colossians 3:23), and went on with his gospel mission, praising God.

Now here's the point: if our Lord and His chief apostle were willing to minister to not only multitudes but also minitudes, should we not do the same? Or are we too proud, too selfish, too unchristlike, to do so? When many do not respond to our message or ministry, rather than fret over the many that do not respond, let us be thankful for the few that do. Don't their souls matter, too?

If we adopt this biblical attitude, we will be thankful that our cup is half full, rather than fretful over it looking and feeling half empty. Jesus obviously thinks this way. He "so loves" the world (John 3:16) and is so unwilling that "any" should perish (2 Peter 3:9), that He rejoices when "any" - three or four, two, or even one - are saved, healed, delivered, encouraged, corrected, baptized, taught, or trained as committed disciples.

Like Him, then, let us minister publicly, and also privately. Let us give our best, most prayerful, sanctified efforts to helping the multitudes, when we can, and the minitudes, when we cannot. And let us praise God for every precious Nicodemus, Zacchaeus, or blind man He touches through our personal ministry.

Ministering to minitudes,

GregSig2

Greg Hinnant
Greg Hinnant Ministries

Last modified on Monday, 13 February 2023 15:01

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