13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. (Matthew 14)
Jesus had just heard about John the Baptist being beheaded. His first response was to withdraw and pray, his go-to response for all of life's challenges. We would do well to follow. But not everyone else felt His loss so deeply. They keep pressing in with their needs. So how does He respond? Minister even more deeply; have even greater compassion; do one of His most memorable miracles ever: feed the five thousand plus. When we are beaten down by life, our first response should be to run to God. But we are not to ask others to gather around us for a pity party; we are to turn back towared them in His grace and strength and share the love and compassion He has shown us all the more. May we not suffer loss selfishly. May it spur us on to Christlikeness.
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