Compassion for the People

Matthew 14:13-21 “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. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 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.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 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. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides the women and children.”

Last week we looked at the task that John the Baptist carried out that cost him his life. John was Jesus’s cousin, and fellow prophet. When John lost his life, Jesus was hurt. He needed to grieve, so He removed Himself from the crowds and withdrew to a secluded place to mourn. When the people heard that Jesus had left the area and withdrew to a remote location they gathered in an area in order to await His return. When Jesus came out of His time of mourning, He was met by this massive crowd. When I say massive, I mean potentially 20 thousand people massive.

So Jesus sees the masses and He takes compassion on them. Why? Because they need help. They came to Him because they needed help, and they knew that Jesus could help. They knew He had the power, so they followed and waited. Jesus healed the sick, but with there being thousands upon thousands of people to see it took Jesus quite some time to administer healing to all of them. They were in a remote location, and nightfall was coming. The disciples suggested sending the people away and having them buying their own food. You see the purse of Jesus was not necessarily deep, and the food was pretty short in the wilderness. Matthew 14:16 says “But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”” Jesus made a pretty big demand here. You guys feed the masses. You give them nourishment so that they do not starve. ?Upwards of 20 thousand people??

Jesus told them this so that they would explain to Him that this was physically inconceivable, and impossible. He knew that by their power it was no where near possible, but when He got involved the unthinkable would become a reality. They exclaimed that they only had 5 loaves of bread, and 2 fish. Jesus said “Bring them to me.” He never grimaced, He never looked doubtful. Jesus blessed the food, and sent it out amongst the people without watching anxiously to see if they would have enough. Jesus knew that they would have more than enough. 12 baskets more than enough to be precise.

Jumping ahead just a little bit we have a very similar scenario, only with 4,000 men rather than 5k. This crowd had followed Jesus to yet another secluded place seeking His healing touch. Up on a mountain in Galilee Jesus sat healing and teaching for 3 straight days. Now what is interesting is that the local Dollar General was not complete yet, and they could not readily obtain food. 3 days without food. I would be starving. Jesus knew that the people were hungry, and He knew that they were getting weak. Remember many of them were already sick. Jesus told His disciples to feed the people. If Jesus told you to feed the people, what would you say? What would you do? I think after watching what He did with the 5 thousand I would say “Okay, how do you plan on doing it this time? What do you wanna multiply for us?” But the disciples responded in disbelief. “How are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd” they said. Did they forget what happened just a little bit ago? He fed 5 thousand (Potentially 20 thousand) people with 5 loaves and 2 fish. Now they wonder how He’s going to feed 4? Again, Jesus made them verbally tell them how many loaves of bread, and how many fish they had so that it would be clearly evident that what was happening was a miracle. Making it known to those around that they were practically out of food, yet the thousands of people were filled to their hearts desire, is nothing short of miraculous.

But why did Jesus do it?

Why did Jesus do it? Lets jump back to Matthew 15:31 “so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.”

Jesus came to fulfill the needs of those around Him because He loves His creation. He also wanted to show His power so that they would know that He was God, and that they would listen to His words when He spoke them. This caused the people to understand who He was, and give great praise to their God. Something they had likely not done for a very long time.

Jesus had compassion on them. Compassion: Pity and concern for the suffering or misfortune of others. The last time the gospel of Matthew made a reference to Jesus having compassion was when Jesus saw the masses who were without a good Sheppard. They were without a spiritual guide to help them navigate in life, and Jesus said that we should pray for the laborers to join the harvest. Now Jesus is seeing their physical short comings as well as their spiritual. He came to heal both, and He did as we just read in Matt. 15:31

So what about us? This is a cool story, but what does it mean for you and me? Listen. There was absolutely nothing special about these people. They were the regular, status quo people. I am sure that many of them were even the lower of the cast system. They were likely rejected many of them, and the ones that were accepted in society were certainly not aristocrats. They were people like you and I, and if He did it for them then He can do it for us.

God supplies your needs. Not always your wants, but certainly what you need, and God always has more than enough. I have no idea what that will look like for you, nor do I even know what it will look like for me. Whether it be help with a bill that you have no idea how you will pay, or help in a situation in your life, maybe it is an encouraging word when you feel like you cannot go one step further, but whatever it is it will be timely in your moment of need. God is faithful, and He cares for His children. We just have to remain faithful in our lives, while God works behind the scene in order to supply your needs. Do not lose you faith. You bread is coming.