John the Baptist beheaded and Jesus feeds the five thousand
Passage: Matthew 14:13-14
"When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick."
Wow! This makes me admire Jesus so much.
what happened- John the Baptist his cousin had just been beheaded
solitary place- to pray and spend time with God (demonstrating a strong prayer and bond alone with his father)
compassion-desperation of the people
Several qualities I admire here...
First, Jesus is struggling with a death of a close friend and relative. This is not an easy thing to bare. What does he do? He takes time away to be with God. He doesn't fall away but instead runs to God knowing he provides the ultimate comfort in times of need. It isn't wrong to be sad when someone we love is taken from us, Jesus displays that this is hard for even him, but this leads to the second quality.
Second, as it says Jesus landed and saw, this means that he was on his way back. Jesus had gone to God, and even though that pain was still severe from his loss, Jesus knew it was time to move on. We can't wallow in our pain. God provides the comfort, but we must return to doing his work as Jesus did.
Third and Fourth go hand in hand. Jesus is still suffering yet sees this crowd and has compassion on them. He acts upon the crowd and personally involves himself. often times it's easy to ignore the needs of others when our lives are in shambles or we feel hurt. Jesus didn't act selfishly, but instead has compassion on these people, puts aside his own needs, and heals them. Not only this, but Jesus is probably realizing that John the Baptist's death is meaning his death is not far to come. Another hard thought-process to get through.
Jesus,
I want so badly to have the compassion, generosity, love, and relationship with God that you had. How many lives could be impacted if I just got out of my chair, out of my comfort zone, past my selfish desires and walked across the room. Lord, help me to this week to show the kind of love you demonstrated here no matter what is going on in my life or my head.
No comments:
Post a Comment