“When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.”
Matthew 14:13-21 KJV
How do we respond to the people around us when they need help ? Do we look to satisfy our own needs or do we look to the need of others ? Jesus had just heard of the burial of John the Baptist and retreated to a solitary place. This retreat however , did not stop the large crowd from following Him . Jesus reacts to the crowd in a spectacular way .
The Eyes of Jesus
When Jesus saw the large crowd, he had compassion . Compassion is needed to do any great thing for God . It is not always easy to place the needs of others before our own needs but here we see Jesus prioritizing the healing of the crowd before his own need to withdraw to a solitary place . We are always challenged in life to have the eyes of Jesus and to think of others and not only ourselves .
“Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”
Philippians 2:4 KJV
There was a young woman who developed a mental illness when she attended university in a foreign country. Many people were initially scared of her symptoms and many retreated and refused to offer help, especially those who were closer to her . It turned out that some other people saw her but who were not necessarily close to her, reached out to help her get home safely .
The eyes of Jesus are the eyes of compassion. Pray that our eyes will see people in the way that Jesus did.
The Heart of Jesus
The heart of Jesus is the heart of feeding . After Jesus performed miracles , it was quite late and even though the disciples were adamant that they should be sent away , Jesus felt the need to give them something to eat . Sometimes God brings people into our lives who would needs more than just hearing the gospel . Some others would also need to be blessed by our generosity . Pray that we will have a heart like Jesus to feed and to keep on feeding.
The Hands of Jesus
Five loaves and two fishes was all that Jesus gave thanks for and broke . Jesus did not need much to feed 5000 people . I believe that it was in Jesus utilizing what He had, and his thankful heart that blessed so many people . We have all been given some talents that we have thought are too small or too insignificant to be used to bless others . Jesus’ hands after performing miracles, were used to feed 5000 people and had even some to spare . God wants to use your hands to do something great , but have you availed yourself for Him to use you?
Be blessed !
A Minute with Melissa 