Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – 1 Corinthians 11-12
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 14:16
Jesus: They don’t need to go back to the villages in order to eat supper. Give them something to eat here.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
Jesus has preached all day to the crowds assembled to hear Him and see His miracles. He has met their needs. He has shared the good news of the kingdom of heaven being at hand. He has opened the scripture so their could understand God’s love for them. He shared how God wanted a relationship with them, not sacrifices and rituals and rules. He wanted obedience, but He wanted obedience in a relationship of love just as we give obedience to our spouse out of love.
So here they were. The hour was late. People were hunger. The crowd began to grow restless. Jesus preached on. The disciples slipped up next to Him and whispered in His ear. “Master, the people are hunger, why don’t we send them into the villages nearby so they can get something to eat.” Hey, boss. Time for a break. Let’s give everyone time to go to McDonalds and start again in 30 minutes. Sound good?
Jesus words astound His disciples. “Give them something to eat here.” Now I imagine the disciples stopped and looked around at the crowd, then looked at the hillsides, then looked at Jesus. I expect a few of them got big eyes and their eyebrows went sky-high in confusion. Some of them probably doubled over in laughter thinking He was pulling their leg. He must have been joking. Some got a little closer, “Excuse me? What did you say? I don’t think I heard you right. Did you say feed them here?”
"Uh, Jesus, there’s no cafeteria here. McDonald’s won’t be built here for another couple thousand years. We don’t have Long John Silvers or Captain D’s or Bill Millers or Denny’s or anything. We just have rocks and a few trees and grass. But Jesus, these people aren’t cows. They won’t eat grass and leaves and rocks.
Do what can we learn from Jesus’ words to His disciples?
First, expect the unexpected. Jesus’ response to His disciples shocked them. They didn’t know what to do with His response. They didn’t see any way out of the predicament He put them in. Feed this crowd here? It seemed ridiculous, but Jesus does things no one else can do. He does God-like things because He is God. If we are truly His, He will do God-like things through us. So expect the unexpected. Be ready for Him to use you in ways that just don’t make sense sometimes.
Second, expect to work. Jesus didn’t let the disciples off the hook. The people were hunger. They needed food. The disciples were about to work pretty hard as waiters for a crowd of 5,000 men plus all the women and children who were there. So we can assume there were well over 10,000 and probably closer to 20,000 people gathered together that day. So these disciples had their work cut out for them. Imagine waiting on 20,000 people to get enough food to them that their hunger is satisfied. Just think about the weight of food they will carry. If each person only eats 1/3 pound of food each, that’s still almost 3 1/2 tons of food they will carry one basket at a time until everyone is fed.
Third, expect to help people. Jesus wasn’t going to let this crowd go hungry. If the disciples released them into the villages to get food, they still wouldn’t be fed. Think about it. How much food do you think would have been available to feed those 20,000 people in the nearby villages? It would have wiped out the food sources. The villages couldn’t have supported such a request. These were small villages of maybe a few hundred people at the time. 20,000 people constituted the population of some of the larger cities of Jesus’ day. The local villages could not have fed the crowd anyway. So Jesus commanded His disciples to help these people satisfy their physical need.
Finally, expect a miracle. When Jesus directs us to do things in His name, He uses His resurrection power to get things done. Sometimes His miracles are extraordinary like the feeding of the 5,000 men and all the women and children accompanying them. Sometimes He heals in miraculous ways and there is almost instantaneous cure of some disease or illness. Sometimes He works through the hands of others. Sometimes His miracles are subtle, putting the right people at the right place at the right time so that their skills and talents can be put to work to make something happen. Sometimes He just lets us see that He is present with the miracle of His peace in our heart despite the circumstance we face. But we can look for the miracles around us and we will see His grace and mercy at work. We will see His mighty hand at work around us.
The disciples were astonished at Jesus’ words. On this side of the cross, we can learn from them and listen for Jesus’ words expectantly. Listen for Him to speak to you and watch His miracles work around you.
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