Matthew 14:14 says, And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. When Jesus saw the graet multitude around Him, He was moved with compassion for them. When we see great multitudes of people today, we should be moved with compassion for them if we are followers of Christ, especially for the unsaved in the multitudes. Verse fifteen states. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. That evening, Jesus' disciples came to Him saying that it was past meal time so He should send the multitudes away so they could buy food for themselves. The disciples may have had compassion, but they weren't going to attempt meet the needs of the multitude themselves. When we see people around us today, do we simply want to send them away so that they don't bother us? Do we. like the disciples, attempt to tell Jesus what to do about them? Verse sixteen declares, But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat. Jesus said for the disciples to not send them away but to feed them. Jesus still expects us to feed those who are hungry today, especially those who are spiritually hungry, without looking for reasons why we cannot do so. Verse seventeen says, And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. The disciples basically said that they didn't have enough to feed the people with. Too often I believe we look at what we have instead of what God can do with what we have if we dedicate it all to Him. Verse eighteen states, He said, Bring them hither to me. Jesus told the disciples to bring what they had, five loaves and two fish, to Him. What we need to do today as Christians is to bring all that we have to Jesus, no matter how little it may be. Verse nineteen adds, And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. Jesus had the multitude to sit, the He blessed the food, and had His disciples to begin distributing the food. The multitude also had to obey Jesus, by sitting and doing what He instructed them to do. We cannot force others to accept Christ as their Savior and Lord, but we can only present the gospel to them. Verse twenty says, And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. After all the people ate, the disciples collected what was left over, and it filled twelve baskets. That would have been a basketful for each disciple. When we reach out to others with the gospel, it in no way diminishes what we have, but instead multiplies it as well. There was more left for the disciples than they had before. Verse twenty-one declares, And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. Over five thousand men had eaten, plus the women and children. We may read this passage of scripture and say that could not happen today because Jesus is not here, but the Holy Spirit, Whom Jesus said was able to do more than He was is with us. Faith was, is and always will be the key to doing great things for God. The disciples had to believe that Jesus could feed the multitude with so little, and the multitude to a degree at least had to believe so also. Verse twenty-two states, And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. Jesus had his disciples get into a ship to go to the other side of the sea while He sent the multitude away. We cannot all follow Jesus the same way, but must go where He sends us and do what He tells us to do under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Verse twenty-three adds, And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. After sending the multitude away, while the disciples were on the ship, Jesus went up the mountain alone to pray. Jesus needed time alone with the heavenly Father, and so do we today.
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