Jesus learned of His cousin, John the Babtist’s death from the disciples.  This affected Him deeply. He left in a boat and went to a lonely place by himself to grieve as many people do in their time of sadness. The people from many towns heard He was near and they followed Him, bringing their lame, blind, crippled, mute and many others and He healed them.

After the afflicted were healed, the disciples suggested that He send all those gathered away to the nearby towns to buy some food to feed themselves. Jesus had compassion for them and knew they had not eaten for three days.  He informed the disciples they must feed them so they would not faint away. The disciples were concerned because they only had seven loaves of bread and a few fish.  Jesus directed them to bring the food to Him, instructed the crowd to sit down and then after giving thanks for the food He broke it and told the disciples to feed all of the people gathered there. They were able to feed 4000 men in addition to women and children and had some food left over.

Even in Jesus’s own deep grief and sadness, He had compassion for others, thinking of their needs before His own. He performed many miracles that day and the people were grateful and in awe of what he had done.

The feeding of the thousands is such a wonderous message given to us. It is so important that it is the only miracle Jesus performed that the telling of it appears in all four gospels of the Bible. The Lord’s Prayer asks the Lord “to give us this day our daily bread”. We know from our studies of the Bible (and I remember it specifically from Confirmation class) that “daily bread” does not just refer to our food intake, but of all things we need to survive. It just so happens in this lesson, bread was literally involved.

This message coming from Matthew 15: 29-39 is another reminder of God’s unconditional love for us. Through His Son Jesus, He provided for the earthly needs of the people and for those eternal needs as well when Jesus died for our sins to set us free to live in His heavenly home forever. How blessed are we to have such a loving Father! Thanks be to God.

Patty