29 Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. 30 Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. 31 The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
32 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”
33 His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?”
34 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.
“Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”
35 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. 37 They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 38 The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.
Don’t even ask the question…”is this event a mistaken reiteration of the feeding of the five thousand?” Better minds have asked the question and they miss the point.
Do we really think if Jesus is falsely credited with feeding 4,000 more people we will all be convinced he the Son of God? Do we actually believe Matthew…or some unknown later author…could have made such an editorial mistake and not noticed?
Trust me…the event happened…with a different lesson in mind.
In Matthew 14, we’re told “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick”. In this passage we are told “Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”
The former is a spiritual compassion. The latter is a physical compassion.
The fact that Jesus cares for both may seem self-evident based on all the accounts of physical healing. However, virtually all those accounts have some spiritual dimension attached to them…as though the physical healing is significant only as a symbol of some spiritual meaning.
In this case Jesus had compassion simply because they were hungry.
I’m comforted that none of my needs (physical or spiritual) escape either Jesus’ notice…or his compassion. It’s a source of encouragement to me every time I face a challenge I cannot meet.
Live boldly out there today…
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