This past Sunday in church we ‘saw’ Jesus in the general vicinity of Bethsaida, in the northeast side of the Lake of Galilee, looking for a time of rest and retreat with His disciples. Perhaps even getting away from the reach of Herod Antipas who had just beheaded John the Baptist and possibly wondering if Jesus was John resurrected. Upon arriving in the area where He planned to get away for a while, Jesus found a multitude of over 5,000 people (the Gospel of John tells us that the Jewish Feast of Passover was near; this may account for the large multitude). After teaching them and healing the sick among them, Jesus multiplies five loaves of bread (more like five pita bread) and two fish and feeds the large crowd.
There are three things in this account of the ministry of Jesus (found in all four Gospels) that are worth our attention and our dialogue: First, for Jesus, ministry was the person in front of Him. Jesus abandoned His need for retreat, for rest and for private prayer and time with His disciples so that He could minister to those in need right there before Him. Second, the word compassion (compound word for “With- Passion”) It was Jesus’ compassion for the multitude and their numerous needs, that placed the healing of the sick and the feeding of the hungry over His comfort. And Third, Jesus did not ask His disciples nor does he ask us today for what they and we don't have; He did not ask for that which they didn’t have, but for what they did have. All Jesus asks is that we surrender to Him what we do have, our time, our talents, our treasure, ourselves and everything else we sometimes hold on to. It is in this surrender that miracles and multiplication of these things take place, if not always in amount, in effectiveness for ministry.
Are these three things visible in your life? What can we learn from this passage besides the above three things? Are you known for your service to others, as a compassionate person and as a generous person with what you do have?
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