What if we Fed the Five Thousand?
I was reading in Matthew 14 this morning, and I came upon something that has never stuck out to me as poignantly as it did today. Chapter 14 describes one of Jesus's more well-known miracles: The Feeding of the Five Thousand. That story, however, begins in verse 13. Verses 1-12 are about the execution of John the Baptist. When Jesus receives this news from John's apostles the scriptures say He "withdrew by boat privately to a solitary space," but a crowd of people follows Him, presumably to receive healing and hear His teaching.
Can you imagine? You have just been told that someone who is practically your brother, someone you love and admire, has been murdered in cold blood... All you want is to retreat into solitude to process and mourn and pray, and suddenly 5,000 people are asking for your time, energy, and wisdom.
The disciples tell Jesus that it's late and that the people are probably tired and hungry because they're in such a remote place, so they ask Him to "send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” But verse 14 says that Jesus "looked at the crowd and had compassion on them." He had compassion. He heals their sick and tells the disciples,"they do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
This of course is when he multiplies the five loaves and two fish, but I guess in my head I confused this story with the one where Jesus feeds the four thousand. In that story Jesus has been teaching for three days, and he multiplies a small amount of bread and fish to feed those who have been listening. The feeding, of the five thousand, however, takes place under much different circumstances.
Jesus has just lost the man who prepared the way for His coming, the man who was also his cousin by blood and most likely a dear friend. Jesus was fully God, so I believe that He knew John's death was coming. But Jesus was also fully man, so I believe that He felt everything we feel when we lose someone we love: the pain, the hurt, the confusion, the anger, the frustration, the deep sadness...
Part of what is so beautiful to me about Jesus's time on earth is that He experienced everything we as human beings do. He was no stranger to loss, temptation, exasperation, exhaustion, desperation, sorrow etc. So in our darkest moments when we are tricked into believing that no one could possibly understand how we feel, it is encouraging to remember that Jesus does. He knows exactly how we feel every moment of every day, because He lived it. And not only did He live it, but He managed to pass through this world entirely sinless and blameless...
Anyway, I'm slightly digressing. The thing about this chapter of Matthew that stuck out to me so much can be summed up in one word: compassion. In the midst of all that pain and sorrow that Jesus was feeling in response to John's death, He stopped and had compassion. How different would our world look if in the midst of our own hurt and heartbreak we chose to have compassion on those around us who are also suffering.
Jesus is the embodiment of selflessness. He put His own needs on hold to minister to the needs of those around Him, and I just cannot get over how beautiful that picture is. I also think it's important to note that the main need Jesus is meeting in this story (hunger) is one that the people could have satisfied themselves. The disciples even suggest that Jesus tell the people to leave to go get their own food, but Jesus commands that they be the ones to meet that need.
Sometimes there are needs in people's lives that we may not deem worthy of our time, that we may see as problems they can fix themselves. But that was not Jesus's approach to ministry. Jesus met people exactly where they were and met whatever needs they had in that moment, because He had what? You can probably guess it... He had compassion.
All of this to say, this doesn't mean that Jesus neglected His own personal needs indefinitely. The scriptures say that once the people were satisfied He dismissed them and the disciples and "went up on a mountainside by himself to pray". I imagine He took time then to mourn John's passing and cry out to God. But he had compassion on others first.
Maybe this is an obvious point to many of you. Maybe I seem silly for belaboring it. But there's just something about the picture of a heartbroken and sorrowful Jesus pouring himself out to a multitude of equally broken people that I cannot get out of my head. Maybe it will speak to you too... Either way, my prayer is that we would be a people of compassion. A people who place the needs of others before our own while also remembering to take time to pray and cry out to God to remind us of our purpose here.
Can you imagine? You have just been told that someone who is practically your brother, someone you love and admire, has been murdered in cold blood... All you want is to retreat into solitude to process and mourn and pray, and suddenly 5,000 people are asking for your time, energy, and wisdom.
The disciples tell Jesus that it's late and that the people are probably tired and hungry because they're in such a remote place, so they ask Him to "send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” But verse 14 says that Jesus "looked at the crowd and had compassion on them." He had compassion. He heals their sick and tells the disciples,"they do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
This of course is when he multiplies the five loaves and two fish, but I guess in my head I confused this story with the one where Jesus feeds the four thousand. In that story Jesus has been teaching for three days, and he multiplies a small amount of bread and fish to feed those who have been listening. The feeding, of the five thousand, however, takes place under much different circumstances.
Jesus has just lost the man who prepared the way for His coming, the man who was also his cousin by blood and most likely a dear friend. Jesus was fully God, so I believe that He knew John's death was coming. But Jesus was also fully man, so I believe that He felt everything we feel when we lose someone we love: the pain, the hurt, the confusion, the anger, the frustration, the deep sadness...
Part of what is so beautiful to me about Jesus's time on earth is that He experienced everything we as human beings do. He was no stranger to loss, temptation, exasperation, exhaustion, desperation, sorrow etc. So in our darkest moments when we are tricked into believing that no one could possibly understand how we feel, it is encouraging to remember that Jesus does. He knows exactly how we feel every moment of every day, because He lived it. And not only did He live it, but He managed to pass through this world entirely sinless and blameless...
Anyway, I'm slightly digressing. The thing about this chapter of Matthew that stuck out to me so much can be summed up in one word: compassion. In the midst of all that pain and sorrow that Jesus was feeling in response to John's death, He stopped and had compassion. How different would our world look if in the midst of our own hurt and heartbreak we chose to have compassion on those around us who are also suffering.
Jesus is the embodiment of selflessness. He put His own needs on hold to minister to the needs of those around Him, and I just cannot get over how beautiful that picture is. I also think it's important to note that the main need Jesus is meeting in this story (hunger) is one that the people could have satisfied themselves. The disciples even suggest that Jesus tell the people to leave to go get their own food, but Jesus commands that they be the ones to meet that need.
Sometimes there are needs in people's lives that we may not deem worthy of our time, that we may see as problems they can fix themselves. But that was not Jesus's approach to ministry. Jesus met people exactly where they were and met whatever needs they had in that moment, because He had what? You can probably guess it... He had compassion.
All of this to say, this doesn't mean that Jesus neglected His own personal needs indefinitely. The scriptures say that once the people were satisfied He dismissed them and the disciples and "went up on a mountainside by himself to pray". I imagine He took time then to mourn John's passing and cry out to God. But he had compassion on others first.
Maybe this is an obvious point to many of you. Maybe I seem silly for belaboring it. But there's just something about the picture of a heartbroken and sorrowful Jesus pouring himself out to a multitude of equally broken people that I cannot get out of my head. Maybe it will speak to you too... Either way, my prayer is that we would be a people of compassion. A people who place the needs of others before our own while also remembering to take time to pray and cry out to God to remind us of our purpose here.
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