Devotional Thoughts: Feeding the 5000

Matthew 14:13-21 is very familiar. In fact, the story of the feeding of the 5000 is one of two miracles recorded in all four Gospels. The other miracle is the Resurrection!

This incident occurred shortly after John the Baptist's death which was described in Matt. 14:1-12 previously. I figure John's death occurred at night since it happened during Herod's birthday party (Matt. 14:6). News of it probably reached Jesus probably pretty quickly because v. 13 said "As soon as Jesus heard the news, he went off by himself in a boat..." And then v. 15 said "that evening the disciples came to him ..." Thus, it seemed likely that Jesus took the boat trip (v. 13) in the morning to try to get away from the crowds but it wasn't long before they found Him (v. 14) and He healed the sick who had gathered around Him. Evening (v. 15) arrived and the crowds were still there and the disciples were worried about feeding them all. Jesus merely said, you feed them (v. 16). The disciples were aghast (v. 17) saying, we only have 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. In vv. 18-21, the feeding of the 5000 occurred.

Familiar passage. Many lessons.

Jesus seeking solitude. In our rush of life, do we make an effort for some solitude to reflect and renew?

Jesus, despite His grief over John the Baptist's death, acting on the compassion He felt for the people who sought Him out. When the Spirit is prompting us with feelings of compassion, do we respond?

When we are hurting, sometimes, it is healthy to deliberately choose to spend some time helping others in need.

Finally, how often do we look at our limited resources (5 loaves and 2 fish) and decide, nope, we can't do anything?

We are to bring to the table whatever we got and trust Jesus for the rest when it comes to meeting the needs of others.