Friday, March 16, 2018

An extraordinary feast


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.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
 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.”
 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
 “Bring them here to me,” he said.  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.  They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.  The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Not too long ago, my small group served a meal for a group that meets at our church.  This group tends to be more people that have been unchurched, who have faced a lot of challenges in life.  We were told we would be feeding about 70 people.  We spent time planning the menu, what it would take to feed that many people, how much food we would need and everything that goes into an event like this. 

In Matthew, we read about how Jesus had gone off in a boat to be by himself.  Yet when he came back to land, he found that this huge crowd had followed him.  Instead of pushing them away, he welcomed them, healed the sick and fed them.  It was not a small group either.  This what a huge group with five thousand men, besides women and children.  He didn’t have to take time to plan a menu, shop or anything else.  He took five loaves of bread and two fish.  The same amount that would barely feed many families these days.  With that he fed all of them and had left overs! 

The acts that Jesus did on earth as an ordinary man were not at all ordinary.  Each day he still does extraordinary things in our lives.  Do you take the time to think about these things?  Today I want to encourage you to think about the extraordinary things that Christ puts in your life.  How can you take and multiple that to do something extraordinary for someone else?


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