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Year A - Trinity 11/Proper 13 - Matthew 14:13-21
Mth 14:13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food." 16 Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." 17 "We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered. 18 "Bring them here to me," he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
In this passage we see the ...
Pity of Jesus.
He healed the sick, verse 14. He fed the hungry, verse 20.
Practical Power of Jesus.
He provided food for thousands of people from a boy's packed lunch!
Plenteous provision of Jesus.
There were five thousand men. If you added the women and children there could have been as many as ten to twenty thousand people. It says that they all ate and were satisfied. There was plenty to go round. Actually there was more than enough because they collected 12 large wicker baskets of leftovers. This could have symbolised the 12 tribes of Israel, perhaps indicating that God's mercy is so great that even the left overs are more than enough to provide for his people.
Person of Jesus.
This miracle pointed to who Jesus is, the Messiah. The Messiah was expected to do what Moses did in Exodus 16, to provide food in the wilderness for God's people. They also anticipated heaven being like a banquet, and this may also point to this. Jesus would show people what God is like. He would save God's people from sickness, hunger, sin and death and give them eternal life
Pattern of Jesus.
The disciples had failed to provide anything for the crowd to eat when Jesus said, "You give them something to eat", verse 16.
What would you have done? You didn't have enough money or any nearby caterers to feed these people. Jesus takes what he has and relies upon God. He gives thanks in the way that any Jews of that day would have given thanks for food. He then shares what God provides. The bread multiplying as he broke it and distributed it.
Jesus pattern of dealing with the sick and the hungry by relying upon God would be repeated by the disciples as they healed the sick and fed those who were spiritually hungry.
God has given us so much materially in the West that we have the opportunity to share with others who are starving, or dying because they don't have clean water. When we think of this it puts the credit crunch and higher fuel prices into context.
Perhaps because we have so much materially in the West we are starving spiritually. Ironically it is in the developing world where the church is growing dramatically. We need to be humble enough to seek the pity of Jesus, his compassion is there for us still today. We need to be hungry for the power of Jesus who can transform sinners into saints. We need to have a relationship with the person of Jesus, sent from God to reveal God and put us right with God.
If you wish to be disappointed, look to others. If you wish to be downhearted, look to yourself. If you wish to be encouraged . . . look upon Jesus Christ. Erich Sauer
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Matthew 14:13-21
Today, we are looking at the feeding of the five thousand. This is the only miracle recorded in every one of the four gospels, so it must be very important.
We read , in verse 14, of Jesus showing compassion on the crowd when he healed the sick. Jesus had just heard that John the Baptist had been beheaded and Jesus went to a solitary place. Perhaps to retreat from Herod and his forces. Perhaps to pray and get his thoughts together. But Jesus lets himself be disturbed to show the love of God in a practical way by feeding the hungry crowd.
Sometimes it can be inconvenient to share the love of God, even to worship him. But life is about priorities. We show what is important to us by how we spend our time, our energy and our money. We can say that family life is important to us but if we do not spend time with our spouse or offspring then it is clearly not as important to us as say, earning money, or socializing, or whatever we do with the rest of our time. So when someone says they don't have time what this really means is that something is not important enough for them to make time. Time spent on earthly pleasures will have limited benefits. But time spent worshipping God, learning from Him, praying to Him and sharing His love will last into eternity.
The disciples came to Jesus telling him to send the crowds away so they could get something to eat, verse 15. Jesus puts the ball back in their court in verse 16 and says to them, 'You give them something to eat'.
We know from the other accounts of this that Jesus and the disciples were near to Bathsaida when he fed the 5,000. This was Philip's home town. Jesus puts pressure on the disciples so that they will think about the situation. The disciples concentrated upon the problem, they only looked at the physical side. 'We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish', they said in verse 17.
When we have a problem how do we try and solve it ? By looking at the physical ? By trying to do it by our own skill and effort ? e.g door knocking in Peterborough, the man didn't need God to help him mend stereo. Didn't realise God had given him the ability and energy to do this !
Jesus intervenes to show the disciples, and us, that we must look to God to supply all our needs. After all everything that we have comes from God, although we often take his provision for granted.
We read of Jesus being both practical and spiritual. Practical in the way that he gets everyone to sit down, and gets the disciples to give out the food and to gather up the left-overs.
Jesus is spiritual in that he looks to God for the provision of more than enough food. Verse 19 says that he looked up to heaven and gave thanks.
I don't know how many of us here give thanks to God at mealtimes ?
A father took his six year own son to church and, after the service the Vicar talked to him and asked the lad if he said his prayers before eating a meal.
The boy replied 'No, I don't need to. My mum's a good cook.'
The way that God provides more than enough food for everyone shows the ample provision that God makes for people. Probably everyone of us here today has more than enough for our needs, but not us much as we might want.
If you were to compare our standard of living to places in Southern Africa where people are starving this shows us how rich we really are. This should lead us to be grateful to God. To thank him for providing us with food, shoes, and the other many material and spiritual blessings that he gives us.
When I used to go to tea with my grandmother she used to make us eat all of our food. If we protested she would come out with one of her favourite expressions, 'Waste not, want not.'
Jesus gets the disciples to gather the left-overs in large baskets usually used for putting fish in. This was a Jewish custom at the time. It is a demonstration that we are not to waste what God has given us abundantly. This applies to us as individuals, as a church, as a nation, as citizens of the world. God has provided enough food for all the people in the world, but those of us in the Western World eat most of it. Even though we account for less than a third of the world's population. God has given enough for everyone's need, but not for everyone's greed.
In the past we have given what clothes, shoes, and bedding we do not want to Romania via Joe Smith. When a number of people get together to help this multiplies God's blessings upon others, and shows His love and compassion in a practical way.
This gospel account points to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah or the Christ. The Jewish people were, at this time desperately awaiting their Messiah. The anointed one from God who would deliver them. They expected that God would raise up a prophet like Moses who would repeat the miracle of providing manna or food in the wilderness. Jesus had just done this. The crowd thought that here was the Messiah who has come to deliver them from Roman rule in the same way that Moses delivered the Israelites from the rule of Egypt. They were ready to support Jesus by force. To do things their own way. But this was not God's plan.
God's plan was achieved not by inflicting violence on others, but by having violence inflicted upon Jesus. By Jesus suffering a long, slow, painful death, but also suffering separation from God the Father as he took upon himself the punishment that we deserve for our failure to live life God's way. Jesus has not delivered God's people from the domination of a foreign power. He has freed us from the domination of sin and death. So we know longer follow our own selfish desires, and so we can have a right relationship with God and be free to follow God's will.
The crowd wanted Jesus for their own interests. Healing when someone was ill. Food when they were hungry. Military victory when they were under a foreign power.
I wonder why we follow Jesus ? I guess there is some selfish motive in some way if we are honest.
I wonder how much we receive, and how much we give ? If we are receiving a lot more than we give ?
Jesus said 'It is more blessed to give than receive' ( Acts 20:35 ). If we are not getting blessed maybe we are not giving enough.
Let us not follow the ways of the crowd. Of following Jesus for our own selfish motives. Let us follow the way of Jesus. Of choosing God's way. This is a way of sacrifice.
There are three areas that I feel we need to be more sacrificial in our church life.
Firstly, of using our time, energy, and gifts to serve God more.
God will often increase our faith when we are trusting him and serving him. When we serve him this gives an opportunity to rely upon him and his provision for us. A failure to serve brings pressure to bear upon those who are left ministering, and means that the body of Christ is weakened. Unable to fulfil all the tasks that God calls us to do. If you are not doing anything at the moment can I encourage you to pray that God will show you what he wants you to do. Please feel free to discuss this with me if you would like to help. It doesn't have to be a lot. For example, just visiting someone who is ill on a regular basis would be a help.
Secondly, prayer.
So much more could be achieved if we prayed more. Moses won the victory for the Israelites on the praying field and not the battlefield. Whilst he continued to hold up his hands in prayer the Amelakites were/enemy was being defeated. When he grew tired he was supported by Aaron and Hur.
If we are going to win battles for God we need to pray passionately and persistently together. So people will come to Jesus. For Christians to grow spiritually. For Christians to serve sacrificially. For Christians to be holy.
Thirdly, money.
We are unable to meet our share and are have little savings left.
I know that some people's financial situations have changed for the worse. We must remember that God calls us to give a proportion, usually a tenth of our income. So if our income reduces so will our proportion. But, as we saw from the feeding of the five thousand, God calls us to look to Him to provide, and not just ourselves. And when God gives He gives generously, even though we may not often recognize this.
So as we sit here today let us think of who Jesus is. Of what he has done for us and of everything that he gives us. Let us consider also how he is calling each one of us to respond with our service, our prayers, and our money.
PRAY