Compassion for the Multitude

16. January 2009 by Bernice Davis.

Hello: 

 

Our lesson today holds another familiar and famous story in the life of the church.

 

Here is the text:

 

Matthew 15:29 Jesus left there and went along the

Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. 30 Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. 31 The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. 32 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” 33 His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?” 34 ”How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.” 35 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. 37 They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 38 The number of those who ate was four thousand, besides women and children. 39 After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.

 

The text is pretty much self explanatory.  What I would like to reinforce is the theme of Matthew.  When we started this study we talked about Matthew’s goal and audience.  The theme of the gospel of Matthew is to present Jesus as the long awaited Messiah.   Matthew was written to a Jewish audience.  Many of the statements and traditions in Matthew are written specifically to the Jews which is why I always explain to you the history of those statements since we are non-Jewish. 

 

Matthew demonstrates that Jesus is the Messiah through the opening chapter of Matthew which is a genealogy tracing him through the promised line of David, through his teachings, his miracles and his ability to forgive sins. 

 

You may have noticed that we have been going through a series of the miracles of Jesus.  

 

This particular example is the feeding of the multitude.   Jesus had left and went to a mountainside by the

Sea of Galilee and great crowds came to him for healing.  Evidently, these healing services lasted for three days, for Jesus is ready to end it and he now has compassion on the multitude because they had stayed with him over the course of the three days.  Jesus did not want to send them on their journey home without food yet they collapse from hunger and it was a remote place where there was no where to purchase food. 

 Jesus takes the seven loaves of bread that the disciples have and the few fish and he sits the multitude down and multiples the loaves and fishes so that there is more than enough and leftovers. 

The text says that the amount of people were four thousand besides women and children.  This means that the count of four thousand only included the men, so technically this was way over four thousand possibly as much as 20,000 including women and children according to some scholars.

 

Well, another week into this fabulous New Year has passed and I hope we are making progress.   Remember, if you’ve already stumbled and strayed from your goals just pick yourself up and start over.  A part of being Successful is learning from your failures and never giving up.

 Enjoy your weekend.  See ya on Monday.   

Stay encouraged!!!!!!! 

Don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily. 

 

 

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