Compassion for the Hurting and Hungry

Matthew 14:13-21 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. ¹⁵ As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food." ¹⁶ Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." ¹⁷ "We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered. ¹⁸ "Bring them here to me," he said. ¹⁹ And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ²⁰ They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ²¹ The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

In March of 1994, The Associated Press carried a story about some fifth-graders who attended Lake Elementary School in Oceanside, California. The accompanying picture showed, for all the world to see, 14 very bald boys. The article told about Ian Ogorman who had been undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. Knowing it was more than probable he would lose his hair, Ian took the initiative and had his head shaved.

Of course, a single bald boy is going to draw a fair amount of attention and attention is not something most fifth-grade boys want. Realizing that, one of his classmates said, “The last thing Ian would want is to not fit in. We wanted to make him feel better.” So 13 of Ian’s classmates had their heads shaved. It was a mark of extraordinary compassion and empathy, that which makes you feel pain when someone else hurts.

Jesus, our beloved Savior, certainly felt our pain when He came into this world. All around, He saw the sadness of lost souls. Jesus had compassion on the people because they were like sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:34). He had compassion on them – quite literally in the Greek, “His spleen spilled out on them.” He felt love and empathy deep within His belly, in His godly guts, in His hallowed heart.

That’s why Jesus does what He does. Earlier, Jesus had been rejected by His homies in Nazareth. He had also just learned that His cousin, John the Baptist, had been beheaded at the behest of King Herod’s devious stepdaughter. So, with a heavy heart, mourning the loss of the forerunner of the Christ and wishing to be alone, Jesus withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place in the desert. I find it interesting that the last time Jesus was in the desert was after visiting John and being baptized. Now He withdraws to the desert after John’s death.

Even though His own hometown had rejected Him as the carpenter’s boy, all the surrounding towns come out to see Him as the miracle worker. Though Jesus goes out to the wilderness to be by Himself, to a desolate place, the sheep cannot help but be drawn to the Shepherd in their midst. For the sheep know the voice of the Shepherd, and they follow Him. Giving no thought to preparations, they have to follow Him. They don’t bring a lunchbox or pack a water bottle. No sippy cups or fruit snacks or even baggies of Cheerios for the kids. They just went.

Even though He desires to be by Himself, Jesus does what the Son of God does. He doesn’t send them away. He doesn’t lecture them on being unprepared. He has compassion on them. He heals their sick. He cares for their hurting. He even feeds them when they are hungry.

There must have been a great sea of faces along the Sea of Galilee that day. The Bible says that there were 5,000 men, which means that there were probably thousands of women and thousands of children. A good guess of the crowd’s size might be somewhere around 12-15,000. That’s a lot of bodies … a lot of bodies who had spent the entire day listening to the Savior tell them that God’s promises were true. A lot of people with broken bodies having their bodies made whole again. A lot of people with broken lives having the pieces put back into place again. A lot of people learning that Jesus had come to rebuild the bridge between heaven and humanity that sin  had destroyed centuries ago.

It had been a long day, which is why, as the afternoon was drawing to a close, the disciples came to Jesus and reminded Him that the multitudes were far away from home and they were probably getting hungry.

To their credit, the disciples were concerned about the physical well-being of these followers of the Christ. They offered a practical solution: “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” In the King James Version they said, “the time is now past.” As well-intentioned as the disciples were about the supper mealtime passing, the time had not passed for Jesus … but had actually now come! For now was the time of compassion! Now was the time of deliverance! Now was the time of Jesus’ power and authority!

The last time there was a large group of Israelites in the desert, God fed them with a bread-like substance from heaven called manna. Every day there was plenty of bread left over. Four centuries earlier, before a seven-year famine turned the middle-eastern world into a desert, God provided seven years of plenty in order to store up bread for His people.

But God was with His people then. God is not with them this time in the desert … or is He?

Jesus had the people sit on a patch of grass and He broke the five loaves and the two dried fish the disciples had found for Him. Five loaves of bread and two fish. And it is enough. For anything in the hands of the Lord is always enough – more than enough. Jesus looked up to heaven and thanked His Father for the gift of this food. “The eyes of all look to you, O Lord, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing” (Ps 145:15-16). Though it came from the disciples, Jesus thanks God, from whom all blessings flow. Then Jesus sent the disciples out with fish sandwiches for the crowds.  (They were only missing tartar sauce.)

Before, when Jesus was in the desert, the devil told Him to make bread, but He wouldn’t do it. Before He wouldn’t take care of His own needs, but here He has compassion on these people and takes care of their needs.

And there were twelve basketfuls of food left over. (Hopefully they had some of those restaurant carry-out containers for all the leftovers.)

And the flock is satisfied. While the towns and villages they came from were places of want and need, the desolate place had become a place of plenty. They were satisfied, which I think means much more than  their tummies were full. For they were filled with more than earthly food, but with the Bread of Life. They were no longer harassed and helpless sheep, worried about John, Herod and death, hunger, healing, hurting and what would happen next – but they were sheep at peace. Sheep at the feet of their Shepherd. Sheep who did not want to be anywhere else but where they were.

So, there is plenty for us to chew on in these verses. (I couldn’t help myself.)

You see, sometimes it takes the wilderness, the desolate times and solitary places in our lives, to get us to understand that there is no better place to be. It’s when we are weak that we find our strength in Christ. It’s when we are helpless we find comfort in our Comforter and Counselor. It’s when we are hurting that God provides healing. It’s when we are lost and alone that our Good Shepherd calls and finds us. It’s when we are hungry that the Lord answers our prayers for daily bread. But even when things seem to be going well, when our bellies are full, our cupboards are stacked and we’re tucked into our warm beds, those are the times that we are just as helpless and weak and vulnerable – we just don’t realize it.

And so it is in the wilderness, in those desolate times and places, that our Good Shepherd has us right where He wants us! Not to punish, but that He may have compassion. That having no place else to turn, and no where else to go, we look to Him for all that we need. To turn the wilderness into green pastures, and the desolate times into times of blessing. So Jesus can do what He came here to do – take care of His sheep.

While the disciples encourage Jesus to “send the crowds away” so they can “go into the villages and buy food for themselves,” Jesus has something else in mind. Before, only some of the people were needy, and He healed them. But now they are all needy. … And here we see ourselves. For we are needy. Needy of body, and needy of soul. We are in the desolation of this world of sin, and are in need of all that our Savior has to give. If He didn’t give it, we wouldn’t have it. We are beggars. Impoverished of soul, burdened with sin, struggling and in need of healing, hungry for the only food that satisfies and thirsty for living water. And Jesus does not disappoint. He does not send us away to fend for ourselves. He knows our need and has come to provide. His time has come.

The time has not passed. For it is the time of compassion and Jesus is here – here with all that He is and all that He has to give us all that we need. Jesus gives and gives and keeps on giving. More than we think. More than we expect. More than we imagine.

Because the hands of Jesus that held those five loaves of bread and two fish and fed so many people, were the same hands that took the nails and wood of Calvary. The hands of your Savior, who came to provide what you need the most: the restoration of your life with God in the forgiveness of your sin. To provide this forgiveness and restoration for not just 5 thousand or 5 million or 5 billion people – but each and every person. Every person from Adam and Eve until the last little boy or girl conceived before Jesus comes again. Every person, including you and me. He came in compassion to do His saving work, shepherd, save, forgive and feed.

In Holy Baptism, the hands of Jesus have taken a person born dead in sin and raised you to a new life in Christ. In those waters His hands have made a saint out of a sinner, a son out of a rebel, and a daughter out of a delinquent.

In Holy Absolution, the hands of Jesus take a person who has again plunged back into the filth of the sin of this world, and washes you clean in forgiveness. A forgiveness that is not carefully and stingily measured out, but which is lavished upon you, with plenty to spare!

The Calvinists say that Christ’s real body and blood cannot be present in the Lord’s Supper because He is sitting at God’s right hand in heaven. He now has a human body which is finite. So even giving away a little morsel of His body at a time, He would eventually run out. … Except, look at what Jesus does with loaves and fish. Not only does He not run out, but He has twelve basketfuls left over. Hmm. Maybe in the hands of Jesus, He is giving you a banquet that never runs out, a feast of victory that will not end with this life, but will continue throughout eternity in heaven. Maybe, just maybe, Jesus can do more than we ever ask or imagine (Eph 3:20).

Human kindness may fail. But God’s mercies are new for you every morning. His divine compassion is earnest and untiring! 2,000 years ago, despite the Lord’s personal exhaustion and grief, still He was brimming with infinite energy for those in need. And Jesus still has an untiring divine compassion for you. He feeds your body. He nourishes your soul. He feels your pain and took your pain to the cross. He gives, you receive. He calls, you follow. For there is no place you would rather be than at the feet of Jesus. For Jesus is here, He has compassion for the healing and hurting. And He even has leftovers. Amen. 

11^th Sunday after Pentecost at Epiphany on August 28, 2011