The real message of the good news of Jesus the Christ / Yashua the Messiah has never been a popular one.
Crowds had a tendency to be attracted to Jesus' teaching and miracles when He was alive for the same reasons crowds are attracted to events today.... entertainment searching, hunting for new gossip to spread and curiosity about supernatural activity. The students that saw Jesus as their teacher and not simply "a teacher" were the ones who looked beyond the entertainment, gossip ideas and supernatural interests. They decided they wanted to learn about what Jesus was actually teaching about. The students became the people that actually understood the "good news" and began to share it with others who looked beyond just being in the crowds.
Anyone in the crowd could become a student, and the intention of Christ was not to give the crowds "get out of hell free cards". The intention of Christ was to provide wholeness for every committed student in a lifelong process of exchanged student living where His teachings would be practiced daily to become authentic student lifestyles of transformation and change. The pursuit as a student affirms establishing Jesus as the life Teacher, and not merely a teacher. I encourage every person who takes the risk of believing in Jesus to settle for nothing less than being a student for life where Jesus is not a teacher but The Teacher.