Moved With Compassion

Recap

Jesus has just found out about John the Baptist’s death

He with draws to spend some alone time with the Father and his disciples.

Matthew 14:13 ESV

13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

Again, this was not from cowardice but from an understanding of the Father’s timing. Jesus knew everything that was going to happen. He knew that John’s death was just one step closer to his own. All the while, he trusted in God’s perfect timing.

Followed By the Crowds

Matthew 14:14 ESV

14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

How would you feel is you had just heard about your cousin’s death, you go on a boat to withdraw from everything, to get some peace and quite and here’s a crowd of people that has followed you, waiting there, just wanting to hear more from you and at a large measure, see if you would perform some miracles.

“Jesus had come to find peace and quiet and loneliness; instead he found a vast crowd eagerly demanding what he could give. He might so easily have resented them. What right had they to invade his privacy with their continual demands?” (Barclay)

That had to have felt exhausting. I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure my immediate response would have been compassion. That’s what sets Jesus apart from us. It came naturally to him because that was and is His character.

“The original word is very expressive; his whole being was stirred to its lowest depth, and therefore he proceeded at once to work miracles of mercy among them.” (Spurgeon)

Our application here, as we seek to be more like Jesus, is to have hearts of compassion for those who need it. Look what Mark 6 says, adding some further context.

Mark 6:34 ESV

34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

In light of that character trait that we should desire to have, look at Colossians 3:12-13

Colossians 3:12–13 ESV

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

The Test

Matthew 14:15–16 ESV

15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

With this, Jesus challenged both the compassion and the faith of the disciples. Yet He did not ask them to do anything to meet the need without also guiding them through the work.

“If they remembered the miracle of the wine in Cana (John 2:1-11), they should have asked Jesus to meet the need, not send the people away.” (Carson)

Jesus’ compassion lead Him to seek to do the Father’s will concerning the Great Multitude. God revealed their needs and Jesus lead his disciples to notice their needs and have faith that God would provide for their needs. The thing was, when people are hungry, sometimes they don’t realize what they are hungry for.

People come to you as a believer at times, longing for something, realizing something is missing. Here at OC we welcome anyone who wants to come to our church. We feed them for free, and that’s not to brag about how great we are, but I believe it’s an act of compassion towards those that want to come, but so many times people walk through life hungering for something they can’t put their finger on. So, they look throughout the world at how the world responds to their need.

David Guzik’s commentary:

The people are hungry, and the empty religionist offers them some ceremony or empty words that can never satisfy.

The people are hungry, and the atheists and skeptics try to convince them that they aren’t hungry at all.

The people are hungry, and the religious showman gives them video and special lighting and cutting-edge music.

The people are hungry, and the entertainer gives them loud, fast action, so loud and fast that they don’t have a moment to think.

The people are hungry — who will give them the bread of life?

Jesus’ response to the disciples was, “They need not go away, you give them something to eat.”

First and foremost, Jesus is saying, what their need is, I can meet it. All I’m asking of you is to bring me what you have and trust that I can do the impossible. Trust that I can do supernatural things. The disciples had seen Jesus do SO many other miracles, but in that moment they turned to their own human logic to solve the problem. It would be easier if Jesus would just send them away. Then the disciples wouldn’t have to “deal with them”.

Have you ever felt that way? I believe that God wants us, calls us, to engage in situations trusting HIM and not using our human logic, to intersect people’s lives to display His compassion for the sheep that have not shepherd so they can find the Good Shepherd.

The Miracle

Matthew 14:17–19 ESV

17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

The disciples bring Jesus what they had, which according to John 6 came from a little boy. He had the disciples have the crowd to sit down in groups of 50, according to Luke 9, he blessed the food and broke them in to pieces and had the disciples distribute the food.

If you’re just passing out a small morsel of food, you don’t need people to sit down, you need them to line up. Get them in and out quickly. NO, Jesus had them sit down because he was really going to fulfill their physical need of food and in a way that would leave them satisfied.

“What a feast this was! Christ for the Master of the feast; apostles for butlers; thousands for numbers; and miracles for supplies!” (Spurgeon)

Familiar Jewish Prayer before a meal:

“Blessed are You, Jehovah our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.”

This miracle displays Jesus’ total authority over creation. Yet He insisted on doing this miracle through the hands of the disciples. He could have done it directly, but He wanted to use the disciples.

Jesus showed us that God can provide out of resources that we cannot see or perceive in any way. It is easier to have faith when we think we know how God might provide, but God often provides in unexpected and undiscoverable ways.

Satisfied

Matthew 14:20–21 ESV

20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

All ate and all were satisfied. It says that there were about 5000 men, but the estimate for the whole crowd was more around 15,000 - 20,000 people including women and kids.

Jesus used 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, and multiplied it supernaturally to feed to satisfaction, some 20,000 people. Not only that, but he had the disciples gather up 12 baskets of left overs. Why?

Because you don’t waste what God has provided. This was a physical example of what Jesus talked about in John 6 when the crowd finds Jesus on the other side of the lake from where Jesus had fed them, after he walks on water, which we will talk about in two weeks. Look what Jesus says to the crowd in John 6.

John 6:26–40 ESV

26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Jesus came to seek and save the lost! He is the bread of life! Anything else in life that we seek to satisfy our hunger will fail us. Jesus simply calls us to “look on the Son and believe”. Jesus is saying this to the Jews who know the story of Moses who made the bronze serpent after God told him that if anyone who is bit by the venomous snakes looks to the bronze serpent, they would be healed.

So, a bronze serpent does speak of evil; but evil having been judged — just as Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us on the cross, and our sin was judged in Jesus. A bronze serpent is a picture of evil judged and dealt with.

Jesus is saying “look to me and believe” and you will be saved from your sins. Receive the bread of life, my body as a sacrifice for you and my blood establishing a new covenant. A covenant that He will never cast us out of! Finishing with the promise that we will be lifted up with him, raised from the dead on the Last day!

What security that brings! What certainty we have in Jesus promise, purpose, relationship with us!