 If Jesus was simply interested in putting together big crowds, he had this buttoned down. There was really nothing else he had to do. He had all of the incendiary device represented in the group. All he had to do was strike a match and put it underneath, and there would be a great volcanic explosion of messianic interest on the part of these people. That is why when you read the Gospels and it says, and they came intending to make him a king by force, he slipped away and nobody could find him.