Mat 5:1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
The crowds followed Jesus because they knew that he had the power to heal and to deliver. Wholeness was found on the side of a mountain because that was where Jesus was.
The crowds then, signify us now, still following Jesus, still knowing that He is worth seeking out and worth pursuing.
Why would the crowds visit the temple that day, when Jesus alone demonstrated the power to meet their need? We each have that choice still, to go to the pharisees at the temple or to go to Jesus at the mountain.
As in other things, so in this, our Lord Jesus was but ill accommodated; he had no convenient place to preach in, any more than to lay his head on. While the scribes and Pharisees had Moses’ chair to sit in, with all possible ease, honour, and state, and there corrupted the law; our Lord Jesus, the great Teacher of truth, is driven out to the desert, and finds no better a pulpit than a mountain can afford; and not one of the holy mountains neither, not one of the mountains of Zion, but a common mountain;
Matthew Henry
I am encouraged that Jesus used the common things and was followed by the common man. Only the humble would pursue Him and the needy were the first to seek Him and know His worth. Indeed, He did not push for prominence, even as a Rabbi, He chose the mountain side.
We will find Him still in the lowly places, in the manger and on the mountain side. Just as Naaman received his healing from leprosy by dipping in that common river so we too discover our healing walking the humble path serving Him in humility. Because, this is where our Lord is. And no matter how humble things may seem, His power connects to our obedience and His presence and person is worth pursuing into any wilderness.
No true servant of Jesus pushes for personal prominence, as it is against the nature of their master.
1 John 2:6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.