Many people followed him.

.Many people followed him because they saw the signs he performed on the sick. ▪ It is said that superficial people, whether they are artists or politicians, tend to have great success at first. But gradually, the crowds leave them. Deep people have a different fate. At first, they are not understood, but eventually, they will experience true success. However, Christ’s earthly life went the opposite way, from great success to abandonment.

What is the reason? It’s because the crowd mentality is superficial. In this mindset, the only benefactor of humanity is the one who improves material conditions and increases well-being. Jesus, who healed and fed the hungry, placed himself in this category, which is why he was glorified. Is there anything wrong with that? Of course not. However, Jesus intended to teach them not to stop at this point, but to understand that it is merely a hint at the spiritual gifts he wants to give them. Not many people understand this lesson. 

This is certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world ▪ The theme of Christ and the Antichrist often appears in the literature of the last century. It is a confrontation between two methods of achieving world domination. The Antichrist is usually credited with solving all social problems. There will be no more poor and needy materially. This will dazzle many Christians, who admit they have been striving for it for centuries but have not been able to achieve it. Interestingly, a similar confrontation can be read in the Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola in the meditation “On the Two Banners”. Satan gathers an army against Christ and recruits people with prosperity, power over others, and pride. However, the first inspiration for these meditations is already in the Gospel itself, in the story of the Lord’s temptation (Mt 4:1-11). If the evil spirit approached Christ himself with these temptations, it is understandable that he begins with the same method with those who want to join Christ. 

They wanted to seize him to proclaim him king. So he quickly went up the mountain, all alone ▪ According to the Scriptures, the Messiah is from the line of David, that is, from the family of the kings of Israel. We know that God opposed the establishment of a kingdom in the chosen nation (1 Sam. 8). Finally, he allowed this institution so that David and Solomon would become a type of the future kingdom of the Messiah. So when the crowds believed that Jesus was the Messiah, it was quite logical that they wanted to proclaim him king. Jesus hid himself from them. He did not want to deny his future. After all, he later officially confirmed it before the representative of the Roman emperor Pilate: “I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world” (John 18:37). But at this moment, the crowds were unable to hear the addition that Pilate heard: “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). From King David to King ew, as one advances from the physical to the spiritual, from the world to eternity.