Homily: July 6, 2026, Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Crowd)

 "When Jesus arrived at the official's house and saw the flute players and the crowd who were making a commotion..."

That detail in the Gospel about ‘the crowd’ caught my attention. 

There were many people in that house that day. They were not people who lived in that household, they were there because someone died. Some could be relatives, some neighbors, some were professional mourners, some were there because they were curious or idle.

I grew up in India, the most populated country in the world. The cities are always crowded. Buses are full, trains are full, bus stations and markets are full of people. Everywhere you look there is a crowd. But just because there is a crowd does not mean something meaningful is happening. Sometimes people gather simply because they have nowhere else to go.

It was similar in Jesus' time. People gathered at weddings, funerals, and wherever something was happening. Many people followed Jesus not because they believed in Him but because they were following the crowd, hoping to see something interesting.

That was the kind of crowd Jesus found at the official's house. They laughed when He said, "The girl is not dead but asleep." They lacked faith, they lacked hope. So Jesus sent them all out.

Then, with only the parents and a few disciples present, He took the girl by the hand and brought her back to life.

Jesus did not need the crowd. He needed faith. The father's faith was enough. The family and His disciples who had faith were enough.

There is a difference between a crowd of people and a community of faith. To the crowd, death is final. To the community, death is life changing.

Throughout salvation history, this is how God works. Noah stood almost alone in his faith. Abraham trusted God when no one else understood. Moses followed God's call despite many oppositions. God does not begin with crowds. He begins with a single person who has faith.

Let us look at ourselves. Are we simply part of the church crowd, or are we people of deep faith?

Are we here because we have nowhere else to go, nothing else to do or because we truly believe?

A faithless crowd cannot see miracles, but one person who truly believes becomes the instrument through which God can do great things.

To God, we are never just a crowd. Each of us is a unique person He wants to reach out to, to love, to transform, to work through, to raise to new life. Let us be the one.

Amen.