Listen here.
Welcome to Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the
appointed Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten
from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Hudson, OH. Thank you so much for being with
me today. I pray this devotion will be a blessing to you.
As we work our way through the Time of the Church, we are
also working our way through the Gospel of Matthew. This Sunday is the 9th
Sunday after Pentecost, and our Gospel lesson is from Matthew 14:13-21. It is a
well-known and well-loved passage commonly referred to as The Feeding of the
Five-Thousand. This miracle is recorded in all four of the Gospels, each giving
a little more information about the event and those that followed it. The context of this event is also important.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke record that Herod executed John the Baptists – Jesus’
cousin and forerunner. The sorrow of John’s death seems to be one of the
factors leading to Jesus’ desire to get away, along with the incredible
busy-ness he and the disciples were experiencing. I will read the passage from
the English Standard Version translation.
Have you ever been exhausted to the point where you didn’t
want to deal with anyone? How do you respond to people when you are in that
state? I find that I drift between disregard and annoyance when I find myself
that tired. However, Jesus does not respond that way despite the physical and
emotional exhaustion he was experiencing. Some might attribute his response to
his divine nature, but it is better to recognize that he is displaying sinless
humanity. It is properly human to see people in need and to respond as Jesus
did to the crowd – he had compassion on them.
Compassion is not merely feeling sorry for someone who is
going through a hard time or dealing with an ugly situation. Compassion leads
to action. In this sense, what is described as compassion here is closely akin
to what the Bible calls love, which the King James Version translates charity. It
is an emotion of care for another that causes us to seek to do good for the
other person. In this case Jesus met the crowd and healed their sick and fed
them.
Compassion is also at the heart of our relationship with
God. God had compassion on us – he loved us – so he sent Jesus to meet our
need. That need was not healing for our sick or food, but he came to give his
life to provide forgiveness for our sins. Jesus had compassion on us – he loved
us – so he willingly came and lived a perfect life – even to the point that he
responded with compassion when we might have sent the crowd away – so that he
could die bearing our sin and give us his sinlessness. And the Holy Spirit has
compassion on us as he dwells with and in us comforting us and delivering the forgiveness
Jesus won on the cross to us by faith.
Perhaps you’re wondering, “Isn’t he going to talk about the
miracle?” I would submit to you that I am talking about the miracle. To be
sure, feeding 5000 men, plus women and children – maybe 10,000 people! – is
impressive! However, the real miracle is that Jesus had compassion when he had
every excuse to reject the crowd. “I’m too tired. I’m grieving. I’m worn out.”
And God has compassion on us when he has every excuse to reject us. “You’re a
sinner. You break my Law. You rebel against my will.”
But Jesus didn’t reject the crowd, and God does not reject
you. He has compassion and he pours his mercy out on you day after day.
Does that make Jesus a great example for us to follow for
our daily living? Definitely! But more importantly, it makes him our savior.
And he gives us reason to be confident that when we come to God asking for
forgiveness, crying out in prayer, or simply hurting in our time of need we
will be heard and God will respond by welcoming us and meeting our need because
he has compassion for us.
Prayer
O God, Jesus fed the multitude out of his compassion and you
welcome us in the same compassion and feed us spiritual food that gives us
forgiveness for our multitude of sins. We thank you for loving us and praise
you because you are the compassionate God. Forgive us again, and in your
compassion give us your Holy Spirit to defend us against temptation, to provide
for our needs for faith, forgiveness, and life, as well as for our needs of
courage, strength, and commitment to follow Jesus in our entire lives. As
people who have received compassion from you we ask that you would help us to
be compassionate to others for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Thank you again for being with me for this time of
meditating on God’s Word. I hope that this devotion was a blessing to you and
it has given something to chew on through the rest of the day.
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God bless your day!
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