Make Me!

Luke 9:14 KJV

For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company.

It is the nature of man to resist force. Because of our sin nature, because of our self will, we push against anything that attempts to make us do one thing or another, even if that thing we would be made to do is supremely good for us. The very words "make me" can be used as a statement of defiance; "Make me!"

Here our Lord tells his disciples to make the crowd to sit down in groups of fifty. Such a statement is not an act of coercion or force, but a means of organizing and putting into order His ministry among them. It is true that sometimes one person uses force to make a crowd do something it would not choose to do and when that happens someone must rise up and stop them. But it is not always true that to be made to do a thing is negative and wrong.

The difference is not only in motive and purpose, but in the spirit in which the people are made to do the thing. Who could possibly suppose that Jesus intended His disciples to whip the people into these companies? It is ludicrous to assert that the twelve used any means of force or that they pressed these people against their will.

• They made them sit in companies through the promise of a good to be bestowed upon them
• They made them sit in companies by communicating the Lord's word clearly to them and
• They made them sit in companies by presenting good reason for them to do so

To make a person be Christian or behave in a Christian manner in any other way is to be unchristian.