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32 Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way." 33 Then His disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?" 34 Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven, and a few little fish." 35 So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 36 And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude. 37 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. 38 Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala. ~ Matthew 15:32-39
Today, we conclude our study of Matthew 15 where the Lord Jesus fed 4000 people with seven loaves of bread and a few fish. This is the second largest meal miracle recorded in the Gospels, second only to the feeding of the 5000. In the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 the crowd had been with the Lord Jesus for just one day. In today's passage, the crowd had been with Him for three days.
The thrust of today's passage is captured in Lamentation 3:22-23 which reads, "22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed; His compassions do not fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." It is by God's mercies, His compassions and His faithfulness that we have hope where none should have existed due to Satan's deception in the Garden of Eden. It was there that we all came forth damned by our sin.
In v.32 of today's passage we read, "Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, 'I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.'"
The God of the Bible is a God of great compassion. His heart is always engaged with us. He suffers with us. He feels our pain, and more than that, to us He seeks to reveal pain's usefulness. When we face an uncertain future or when we find ourselves in the midst of certain problems, it's important for us to pause and to reflect on what we know about the character of God. It keeps us rooted. It keeps us grounded. It keeps us centered in the faith. Otherwise, our circumstances cloud our reasoning and we find ourselves without the joy and the hope needed to buoy us in this world of torrential waters. This is where the mercies and the compassions and the faithfulness of the Lord pull back the clouds, enabling us to see anew.
From Genesis to Revelation there are 31,173 verses. In those 31,173 verses, there are 7,487 promises that God has made to man reminding us of His mercies, His compassions and His faithfulness. When we stand on God's promises something happens, something with eternal value. We discover that our faith in His promises invite His peace into our souls and we get to the point that we conclude that everything will be alright. This happens because even though God doesn't promise us a life free of trials, He promises to make sense of our trials. He does this through the exercising of our faith through our trials. When exercised faith pounds the doors of heaven, a certainty comes that when we call, He will answer, that when we ask, we will receive, that when we knock, the door will be opened.
In v.33 of today's passage we read, "Then His disciples said to Him, 'Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?'"
The feeding of the 4000 was a different miracle than the feeding of the 5000. In this miracle the people were told to sit on the ground, and there was no mention of grass. In the feeding of the 5000, there were five loaves and two fish. In the feeding of the 4000, there were seven loaves of bread and a few fish. In the feeding of the 5000, there were twelve baskets of bread and fish leftover. In the feeding of the 4000, there were seven baskets of leftovers. In the feeding of the 5000, the twelve baskets were the smaller lunch baskets, whereas, in this account, there were seven large baskets. Also, the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 took place in Galilee, whereas, this miracle took place in "the Decapolis." At the feeding of the 5000, the Lord Jesus fed the Jewish crowd. Here, He fed a Gentile crowd.
In response to the compassionate statement of the Lord Jesus that the people had gone three days without food, the disciples questioned how they could possibly feed so many people. We are so much like the disciples, we forget so quickly. It had not been that long before this that He fed the 5000 with less. The disciples were not only forgetful, they failed to learn. I am grateful for this because I am no different than they. I find it quite helpful to remember that when God wants to do something wonderful in my life, He couches His performance with some kind of a difficulty in my life. But, while in the middle of the trial I often short circuit my learning because I find it hard to rest during the trial. I find that most often I am consumed with getting the trial over. It is good to remember that when God wants to do something really wonderful in our lives, He very often starts with an impossibility.
In v.34-36 of today's passage we read, "34 Jesus said to them, 'How many loaves do you have?' And they said, 'Seven, and a few little fish.' 35 So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 36 And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude.'"
The Lord Jesus knew how much food the disciples had but He wanted to accentuate the number for a specific reason. So, He took the seven loaves of bread and a "few" small fish and He turned them into a meal with seven large baskets of leftovers. There was a basket of leftovers for each original loaf that was given. We often fall into thinking that God’s blessing is for only our own benefit. We often take what God has blessed us with and hoard it. When we do this, we actually give safe haven in our souls to the enemy.
The blessings God shares with us are given so that we can bless others. The Lord Jesus didn’t multiply the disciples snack into a huge meal for only the disciples. Instead, He did it to feed not only the disciples, but the whole crowd. Our natural tendency is to hoard our blessings and/or use them only for ourselves, but God has given an example of extravagant generosity. When we give Him the little we have, He can multiply it into so much that there are baskets full of leftovers.
In v.37-39 of today's passage we read, "37 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. 38 Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And He sent away the multitude, got into the boat, and came to the region of Magdala."
Through this miracle the Lord Jesus demonstrated His heart for needy people. Interestingly, in every single phase of the Lord's ministry He ended with a feeding. When He was finished ministering in Galilee, He finished it with the feeding of the 5000. When He was finished ministering to the Gentiles, the second phase of His ministry, He finished it with this feeding of the 4000. When He was finished with His Judean ministry, just before the cross, He ended it with a third feeding, the Last Supper. When we look at the Cross of Christ, we see God’s faithfulness reminding us that not even the instinct to spare His own Son would turn God back from keeping His word to us.
Throughout my life my problems have always served me to be useful roadsigns pointing me to God. There have been times when I have responded to these roadsigns quicker than with others, but I have learned that when I respond to them, they propel me deeper into a more meaningful relationship with God. Most trials seem on the surface to present themselves to us as obstacles that prevent us from advancing in our walk with Him. But, our trials are not obstacles, they provide fuel for the deepening our dependency upon God. Our trials build into our lives passion, perseverance, and a deeper dependency upon the Lord that goes far beyond what we could think or imagine. More often than not, God answers our prayer for greater wholeness, not by providing better circumstances, but by providing trials which aid our hearts ability to see Him. This is what true faith is: a heart positioned to see Him most vividly.
