13 When Jesus heard
it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But
when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.
14 And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude;
and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.
15 When it was evening, His disciples came to Him,
saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send
the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy
themselves food.”
16 But Jesus said to
them, “They do not need
to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17 And they said to
Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”
18 He said, “Bring
them here to Me.”
19 Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the
grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to
heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and
the disciples gave to the multitudes. 20 So they all
ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the
fragments that remained. 21 Now those who had eaten
were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
One of few
events in Christ’s life which is recorded in all four gospel accounts.
After hearing about the death John the Baptist, He departs to a deserted
place to be by himself. Multitudes follow Him He teaches them many
things including the Kingdom of God and confirm it with miracles of
healing.
34 And Jesus, when He
came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them,
because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach
them many things.
(Mark 6:34)
11 But when the
multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to
them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.
(Luke 9:11)
He shows
compassion because their leader has been killed. (They were like sheep
without a shepherd.) His disciples asked Him to do a very natural thing,
to send the people into towns to buy food. Remember they had a very long
day seeing Him perform miracles. Jesus tells his disciples to feed the
people, a test. They only have five loaves and two fishes.
5 Then Jesus lifted
up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to
Philip, “Where shall we
buy bread, that these may eat?”
6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew
what He would do.
7 Philip answered
Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them,
that every one of them may have a little.”
Taking
them by surprise, He tells the people to sit down on the grass in groups
fifty to one hundred. Christ blesses and gives thanks for the loaves and
fishes. He multiplied the loaves and fishes into enough food to feed the
multitude. When the apostles gathered the leftovers, they had more food
than they had before the meal.
Become
more like Christ. What can we learn about Him from this account?
1.
A Willingness to
Teach
He used this occasion to teach
people many things. We must develop this desire as well. May be many of
us avoid becoming a public teacher because of James 3:1
My
brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall
receive a stricter judgment.
(James 3:1)
This verse does not discourage
people from becoming teachers, but from being an unqualified one We need
teachers badly, but not ones that are unprepared.
5 Now the purpose of
the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and
from sincere faith, 6 from which some, having strayed,
have turned aside to idle talk, 7 desiring to be
teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things
which they affirm.
(1 Timothy 1:5-7)
They wanted to be teachers but
didn’t understand themselves. Ignorant! Ambition to teach is a worthy
one and we should encourage others to do so. But the person must be
willing to make adequate preparation first. Failure to do so brings
displeasure from God.
12 For though by
this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again
the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need
milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes
only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a
babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of
full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses
exercised to discern both good and evil.
(Hebrews 5:12-14)
Not everybody should be, nor
should aspire to be teachers. They may not have the talent or
ability—God may have given them other abilities. But if he has given you
the ability, you must exercise it, develop it. Prepare yourself. You
have an obligation. Jesus was the Master Teacher, never called a
preacher. The few times He preached; He was never called a preacher.
All of us has the responsibility
to become more knowledgeable of God’s word whether or not we become
public teachers.
“We must answer in the
judgement, not only for what we know, but for what we could have found
out by reasonable effort.” —G. N. Woods
2.
A
Life Filled with Compassion
He literally “suffered with”
showing His deep lave and concern. Our God is a god of love.
8 But God demonstrates
His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died
for us. (Romans
5:8)
If we desire to be like Christs we
will develop this attribute of showing compassion to others. This love
causes us to act.
18 My little children,
let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
(1John 3:18)
Jesus looks beyond his own
feelings and feels the pain of others.
The Good
Samaritan
25 And behold, a
certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I
do to inherit eternal life?”
26 He said to him,
“What is written in the
law? What is your reading of it?”
27 So he answered
and said, “ ‘You
shall love the
Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
with all your strength, and with all your mind,’
and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’
”
28 And He said to
him, “You have answered
rightly; do this and
you will live.”
29 But he, wanting
to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Then Jesus
answered and said: “A
certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among
thieves, who stripped him of his clothing,
wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 Now by chance a certain
priest came down that road. And when he saw him,
he passed by on the other side.
32 Likewise a Levite, when he
arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain
Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was.
And when he saw him, he had
compassion. 34
So he went to him and bandaged his wounds,
pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him
to an inn, and took care of him. 35
On the next day,
when he departed, he took out two
denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said
to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come
again, I will repay you.’ 36
So which of these
three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”
37 And he said, “He
who showed mercy on him.”
Then Jesus said to him,
“Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:25-37)
3.
A Thankful People
We should be continually thankful.
20 giving thanks always
for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
(Ephesians 5:20)
God is able to supply all our
needs.
19 And my God shall
supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:19)
With this idea of being thankful
is the idea of being good stewards of all we have. The physical
blessings we receive should not be wasted or abused.
1 He also said to
His disciples: “There was
a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to
him that this man was
wasting his goods. 2
So he called him and said to him,
‘What is this I hear about you? Give an
account of your stewardship, for
you can no longer be steward.’
3
“Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I
do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig;
I am ashamed to beg. 4
I have resolved what to
do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into
their houses.’
5
“So he called every one of his master’s debtors to
him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6 And he said, ‘A hundred
measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your
bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’
7 Then he said to another,
‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred
measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take
your bill, and write eighty.’ 8
So the master commended the unjust steward
because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more
shrewd in their generation than
the sons of light.
9
“And I say to you,
make friends for yourselves by unrighteous
mammon, that when
you fail, they may receive you into an
everlasting home. 10
He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also
in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.
11 Therefore if you have not
been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust
the true riches? 12
And if you have not been faithful in what is another
man’s, who will give you what is your
own?
13
No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate
the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
He teaches us to be good stewards
of our natural resources. All He has entrusted to us. Don’t squander
them: time, money, influences, abilities, would all be included here.
12
While I was with them in the world,
I kept them in Your name.
Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the
son of perdition, that
the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Judas, the son of perdition or son
of waste, had the greatest of opportunities and threw it all away for
money that was only good while he was alive.
If we desire to be like our
Savior, we will be a thankful people who are good stewards of all we
have.
Jesus
offers pardon to all who come to Him in obedience. He shows His mercy
and compassion to us. Your life—son of waste? If you miss heaven, you
will have missed it all!
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