‘‘And the crowds were looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them.’’ (Luke 4:42)

We seem to blow hot and cold over issues, being deeply passionate about a cause one moment and then being indifferent or even despairing that anything will ever change. My grandson can be adamant one day that he will be a professional golfer and overnight he changes and becomes focussed on the being the best drummer in the world. Yes, we humans are a fickle lot.

In today’s Gospel, the crowds around Capernaum, after hearing that Jesus had healed Simon’s mother-in-law, cured those suffering from all kinds of diseases and had rebuked demons, came looking for him and when they found him, sought to keep him there with them. Jesus resists their urgings and tells them that he must ‘proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also.’ (Luke 4:43)

Crowds are fickle in their response to Jesus, sometimes welcoming him shouting ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ (Matthew 21:9) and wanting to make him King, other times driving him out of the town to ‘hurl him off the cliff’ (Luke 4:29), being amazed at the ‘power and authority’ of his teaching and miracles (Luke 4:36) and finally, being caught up in the hysteria before Pilate shouting out ‘Crucify, crucify him!’ (Luke 23:21).

Reflecting on our own response to Jesus, we might discover that our own attitude can follow a similar path: sometimes hot, sometimes, cold and sometimes indifferent. Let us ask God for the grace to be steadfast in our faith, holding fast to the hope of the Gospel so that it might be ‘bearing fruit and growing in the whole world.’ (Colossians 1:6).