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.
As we saw yesterday, compassion was the name of the game with Christ. As He grieved over the death of John the Baptist, He did not become self-consumed. As soon as He saw the crown, He had compassion on them. Matthew emphasizes not His teaching, but His healing. The words and actions of His disciples show that for their great progress in being able to teach, heal and cast out demons, they still had a long way to go in Compassion Class; their attitude was: "let them fend for themselves." Very Darwinian of them. Then in the middle of the passage we have that all-important phrase "But Jesus...". Just like when we read in scripture: "But God...", this indicates He is about to do something profound and life-changing. Jesus said, "No; if you are my disciples, you need to see this as your problem - better - your opportunity." But they object: "We only have this much food; we only have this much money; we only have a little time." This is exactly where they needed to be - exactly where we need to be: however much we have, in the way of time, resources, ability or experience is not enough. We will always need Him more. So, He says: "give Me the resources; give Me the "problem"; give Me control; give Me your service, and this will all turn out well. Everyone - all twenty thousand, including men, women and children, and all twelve of their baskets were filled. Compassion is not squandering or even spending; it is investing in God's will.
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