Matthew 14:13-21
God cares for His people.
In Jeremiah 31:3, the Lord says:
Long ago the LORD said to Israel:
"I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to
myself.” NLT[i]
In Deuteronomy 7:7-8, He says:
7The LORD did not set
his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other
nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! 8Rather, it was simply that the
LORD loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the LORD rescued you with such a
strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of
Egypt. NLT
The Earth and all it contains is the Lord’s, and yet He has
called out a people for Himself.
There are those who say everyone will be saved, but then
what do we say about Egypt or Canaan?
Acts 4:26 says:
The kings of the earth prepared for
battle; the rulers gathered together against the LORD and against his Messiah. NLT
Many have set themselves against the Lord, and although God
reaches out to them with mercy and forgiveness, they reject Him.
The incident from the life of Jesus that we are looking at
today shows us an example of the compassion which God has for His people in the
midst of a world that has set itself against the Lord and His Messiah. The central part of the account is found in
Matthew 14:13-21. However, there was a
lot happening at that time that is not included in this passage.
Immediately preceding this account is the story of Herod’s
execution of John the Baptist.
This was a time of political upheaval and trouble for the
nation of Israel. The people thought
John the Baptist was a prophet, and were troubled that Herod killed John. Josephus was a historian from that time and he
says that the Israelites attributed the troubles Herod suffered subsequent to
the execution of John to the judgment of God.
In other words, the death of John dealt a heavy blow to the morale and
psyche of the nation.
In addition to this national crisis, Jesus and His disciples
were personally affected. According to
Mark 6, around the time of Herod’s execution of John, Jesus sent out the twelve
in pairs. The twelve were given
authority over unclean spirits and they anointed many with oil and healed
them. (Mark 6:13) This got the attention of Herod, and is what
is behind the statement of Matthew 14:1-2:
1At that time Herod the
tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, 2and he said to his
servants, “This is John the Baptist. He
has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work
in him.” ESV[ii]
The political upheaval and miracles of Jesus were all part
of the motivation for the crowd to seek out Jesus. Herod’s murderous tendencies and paranoia
about Jesus were also good reason for Jesus to go to a desolate place. If we place this account as the same one
mentioned in John 6, we know that it was also near the time for the Jewish
Passover. Everything would have been
gearing up for the annual trip to Jerusalem and therefore an unusual number of
people would have been available to seek out Jesus.
It was as if a storm was brewing around Jesus. As quoted before, the world and its leaders
were raging against the Lord and His Messiah.
If you want to live godly in Christ Jesus, the world and the
prince of this world will rage against you.
2 Timothy 3:12 says:
Indeed, all who desire to live a
godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…
ESV
In addition, 1 Peter 5:8 says:
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a
roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
ESV
We need not be surprised by the fiery trial that surrounds
us. (Beloved, do not be surprised at the
fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange
were happening to you. 1 Peter 4:12, ESV)
However, we can take comfort in the compassion of the Lord.
Matthew 14:13 tells us that when Jesus heard about the death
of John the Baptist, He withdrew by boat to a desolate place by Himself. Mark 6:30-31 adds detail by telling us:
30The apostles returned
to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31And he said to them, “Come away
by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had
no leisure even to eat. ESV
While Jesus led His disciples away, the crowds, having heard
about it, raced around the lake and arrived at the landing before Jesus and His
disciples got there. (Matthew 14:13-14,
Mark 6:33) When Jesus saw the huge crowd
that waited for Him, the text tells us he had compassion on them. Again, Mark 6 gives us some extra detail when
it says, “…they were like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mark 6:34, ESV)
This idea of the crowd being like sheep without a shepherd
is repeated in the gospels. Matthew 9
tells us that Jesus traveled through the towns and villages of Judea, teaching
in their synagogues and healing the sick.
Matthew 9:36 tells us:
When he saw the crowds, he had
compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep
without a shepherd. ESV
This word harassed is worth noting. Traveling through the towns and villages
meant that Jesus was seeing them in their everyday lives, and they were
harassed. This word harassed in the
original is “skullo” and has as its
root meaning to flay. It consequently
means to skin alive and thus carries the meaning to annoy in the extreme.
God judged the leaders of His people for not shepherding His
sheep. Through Jeremiah the prophet, He
said:
"My people have been lost
sheep. Their shepherds have led them
astray and turned them loose in the mountains. They have lost their way and can't remember
how to get back to the sheepfold.”
(Jeremiah 50:6, NLT)
Jesus found the crowd on the shore of the Sea of Galilee
that day in this condition. This is the
condition of so many of the people in the world even to this day. It is helpful for us to see how Jesus showed
compassion for these harassed sheep.
First, He taught them.
Mark 6:34:
When he went ashore he saw a great
crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a
shepherd. And he began to teach them
many things. ESV
He taught them many things.
When God sent His Son to walk among us, His principal ministry was
teaching. When God established His
Church, He also made teaching its principal ministry.
What is the principal job of a parent?
While there is not going to be agreement on this, it could
be argued that one of the main jobs of parenting is teaching.
One of the gifts that God has given the Church is
teachers. Ephesians 4:11 says:
Now these are the gifts Christ gave
to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and
teachers… NLT
In Jeremiah 3:15, God promises His people:
And I will give you shepherds after
my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. ESV
In the midst of the fiery ordeal that assaults us, it is
essential that we feed regularly on the Word of God.
So faith comes from hearing, and
hearing through the word of Christ.
(Romans 10:17, ESV)
Along with teaching the crowds, Jesus also healed them.
This is still part of the ministry of the Church. We are to pray for each other and bear each
other’s burdens:
Therefore, confess your sins to one
another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great
power as it is working. (James 5:16,
ESV)
Bear one another’s burdens, and so
fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians
6:2, ESV)
This ministry of healing is also why James 5:14 says:
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and
let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ESV
Finally, along with teaching and healing, Jesus fed the
crowd.
He saw their physical condition and ministered to it with
what God provided. A whole book could be
written on how God can take what little we have and make it into an abundance
of provision if we only give it to Him and let Him bless it.
Every one of us will find ourselves in a desolate place with
no visible means of sustenance, and yet God is faithful and provides. Just as He sustained the children of Israel
for 40 years in the wilderness, feeding them with Manna, God has promised to
meet all of our needs.
Jesus’s compassion made Him aware of the conditions
affecting the crowds, their condition and their circumstances, and it also
moved Him to address their needs by teaching, healing and feeding them.
He has passed on His mission to us. He has left us to make disciples. As the Word of God says:
18All this is from God,
who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of
reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world
to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us
the message of reconciliation. 20Therefore,
we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be
reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians
5:18-20, ESV)
This ministry of reconciliation is what true compassion is
about. Teaching, healing and feeding
have no meaning apart from bringing lost sheep to the safety of the
sheepfold. Again, as the Scriptures say,
“For the love of Christ controls us…” (2
Corinthians 5:14, ESV) This is why we
make an appeal to all to be reconciled to God.
Without the message of the gospel, the world leaves people harassed and
helpless like sheep without a shepherd.
The battle for the hearts and souls of people is not fought in the
political arena. It is fought on the
streets and corners of our villages and towns.
It is fought in the desolate places both literally and figuratively.
Let the compassion of Christ control you. Feed on and offer people the Word of
God. Pray for, encourage and help those
who are sick. And finally, give what
little you have to God and allow Him to bless it to the meeting of many needs.
[i] Scripture
quotations marked NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House
Foundation. Used by permission of
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
[ii] Scripture
quotations marked ESV are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News
Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.