By: Carole L. Haines
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. (Matthew 14:13-21 ESV)
I was so struck by Jesus’ response to the people God brought to Him this day. Jesus had just sailed away in a boat to get some much need alone time with God. He had just finished sharing seven parables with the people and explaining two of them to His disciples. Jesus is fully human and is fully God, so He must have been weary and just wanted some serious downtime with His Father and the Spirit. He had then gone to His own hometown and tried to share with the people He grew up with, but they were having none of it.
57 And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not dishonored except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58
And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. (Matthew 13:57-58 NASB)
But beyond all this, Jesus then receives the news that John the Baptist has been beheaded. Perhaps all these things were weighing on Jesus and as God, He was yearning for Home with His Father and The Spirit. But it was not to be, for as soon as the crowd discovered where Jesus was, they followed Him on foot
14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them
and healed their sick. (vs. 14)
The crowd had gotten there before Him. Jesus got out of the boat, and they were already on the shore waiting for Him. He only had that alone time with God on the trip over, but then the crowds were there again. The takeaway here is Christ’s response to the people. He is not annoyed. He is not put out by this seeming interruption. He has compassion on them and heals them.
How do we react to interruptions, to those He brings to us? Jesus healed them, fed them, cared for them. I remember when I was sent on an Emmaus weekend. As an introvert, I spent the first part of the weekend trying to find a way to get alone with God. Only to hear Him whisper to me that He was reaching out to me through these precious believers who were trying to love me. That was a powerful lesson for me.
Jesus, please make us more like You. Boundaries are good, because of our human frailty, but your interruptions are often Divine appointments. Help us to see them and respond as you did here. Amen.
hisshadowings.com 