“I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.” – Mark 8:2-3
What is the longest you’ve gone without food? For most of us, maybe half of a day? A day at most? Imagine going three full days without eating anything. Think about how tired you would be from the lack of energy. Your stomach is continuously growling, and all you can think about is food. Now add your family into the scenario, your spouse and your children. It’s one thing for us to be hungry… but our wives and children also?
The crowd that was listening to Jesus had been with him for three days. Mark tells us that there were 4000 people gathered around him. Some may have brought a few provisions along, but it’s unlikely that the few who did had enough for more than a day. So before Jesus sent them home, he saw the need to feed them. “Some of them,” he said, “have come a long distance. We don’t want them to collapse on their way back home.”
When we are busy with our daily comings and goings and we see people, what catches our eye about them? Do we notice how they’re dressed, the kinds of clothes they wear? Is their clothing clean and serviceable? Or worn and tattered? What about their physical appearance? Do they walk with a limp? Are they disabled? Do they seem energetic and healthy, or do they look broken and weary?
Or are we like most people and so consumed with everything going on in our own little world that we don’t even bother to notice them, never mind think about the desperate needs they might have that are being unmet?
Jesus had a lot going on in his world. After all, his ministry involved meeting and teaching everyday people. And he would literally encounter thousands of people, sometimes daily, and many of them were always asking him to do something life changing for them.
Isn’t it incredible that in all of the New Testament, Scripture doesn’t record a single instance where Jesus once turned someone away who needed his help? In fact, he was constantly searching for people who had a need that only he could meet. And such was this day, with 4000 people gathered around him and receiving the spiritual food they desperately craved, that Jesus recognized that they also had a pressing need for physical sustenance.
When Jesus miraculously fed the 5000, which was an entirely separate event, the multitude of people on that day were primarily Jews. This crowd of 4000, however, was mostly (if not entirely) made up of Gentiles. And these same disciples who had been there to feed their 5000 fellow Jews were there to help miraculously distribute the 2 small fish and 7 loaves of bread to the 4000 Gentiles. You see, Jesus knew that his disciples needed to learn the truth of why he had come: that he hadn’t come to seek and to save just a select group of people, but that he came to seek and to save all people. His disciples were essentially getting a glimpse of the role they themselves would play in advancing Jesus’ ministry after he would no longer be with them.
So that brings us back to our earlier question. When we go about the busyness of our days, are we paying attention to the people around us? Do we recognize a potential need that they might have? Are we eager to show compassion and help meet that need if possible?
What we wish we could do for all, let us at least do for one today.
Former Blackout Artist 