1 In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus summoned His disciples and said to them, 2 “I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me for three days already and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.” 4 And His disciples replied to Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” 5 And He was asking them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven.” 6 And He directed the people to recline on the ground; and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them, and started giving them to His disciples to serve, and they served them to the people. 7 They also had a few small fish; and after He had blessed them, He told the disciples to serve these as well. 8 And they ate and were satisfied; and they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces. 9 About four thousand men were there; and He dismissed them. 10 And immediately He got into the boat with His disciples and came to the region of Dalmanutha.
TODAY'S TAKEAWAY:
Jesus' compassion was not misplaced. He saw the hearts of these people who were sincerely seeking after Him. After all, they had denied their physical hunger just to stay with Him for three days and hear Him speak, because they were spiritually hungry. Typically, the message from these verses is how the Lord provides, because He desires that we go to Him with all our needs, problems and requests. The Lord God wants to provide, solve, help, build and establish, and pour into us His wisdom, strength, righteousness and love. It's a 24-7 kind of love relationship, because God wants to do life with us, for us, in us, and through us.
What is also jumping out at me today, is that Jesus invites us to eat with Him, both spiritually and physically. So not only gathering with others to praise and worship the Lord, but dining together is such an intimate thing to do. It's difficult to serve and eat at the same table with someone we hate or with someone who hates us. While we are called to love and have a servant's-heart-attitude towards all people, it is glorious when believers gather together. The closer we all are to the Lord, the closer we will be to one another. And in that, we can eat together with grace, thankfulness, praise, celebration, and fellowship, in God's love; and know that God is always in our midst!
