29 Moving on from there, Jesus
passed along the Sea of Galilee. He went up on a mountain and sat there, 30 and
large crowds came to him, including the lame, the blind, the crippled, those
unable to speak, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he healed
them. 31 So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking,
the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they gave
glory to the God of Israel.
32 Jesus called his disciples and
said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me
three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry,
otherwise they might collapse on the way.”
33 The disciples said to him, “Where
could we get enough bread in this desolate place to feed such a crowd?” 34 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked
them. “Seven,” they said, “and a few
small fish.”
35 After commanding the crowd to sit
down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks,
broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the
crowds. 37 They all ate and were satisfied. They collected the leftover
pieces—seven large baskets full. 38 Now there were four thousand men who had
eaten, besides women and children. 39 After dismissing the crowds, he got into
the boat and went to the region of Magadan.”
(Matthew 15:29-39 – CSB)
Getting a
Handle on God’s Messiah!
Hallelujah
to God’s Sent One – from Matt 15:29-39
“Stop me if you’ve heard this one
before…” Reading Matthew 15:29-39, you may think Matthew has lost track of what
he has already written about Jesus. This text has a déjà vu ("already
seen”) feel to it: masses coming to Jesus, His sitting on a hill, multitudes
miraculously healed, and fed, His “not getting it” disciples, Him moving on…
Why do we repeat stories? Could it
be both emphasis via repetition, and the distinctions in the differences? Yes,
Jesus is once again compassionately healing, feeding masses. But who, when,
where? Evading political, and religious powers, Jesus is in heavily Gentile
territory, giving even more of the children’s bread to the dogs (see 15:21-28).
He is behaving – again – so much like God’s Messiah, that even these outsiders
are “amazed”, and giving “glory to the God of Israel” (vs. 31; Isaiah 35:4-6). Circle the parts
of this passage that Matthew has already written something like:
“Moving on from there, Jesus passed
along the Sea of Galilee. He went up on a mountain and sat there, and large
crowds came to him, including the lame, the blind, the crippled, those unable
to speak, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he healed them. So
the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the crippled
restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they gave glory to the
God of Israel.
Jesus called his disciples and
said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me
three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry,
otherwise they might collapse on the way.”
The disciples said to him,
“Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place to feed such a
crowd?” “How many loaves do you have?”
Jesus asked them. “Seven,” they said,
“and a few small fish.”
After commanding the crowd to
sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks,
broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the
crowds. They all ate and were satisfied. They collected the leftover pieces—seven
large baskets full. Now there were four
thousand men who had eaten, besides women and children. After dismissing the crowds, he got into the
boat and went to the region of Magadan.”
(Matthew 15:29-39 – CSB)
The
Cast, Setting, Same/Differences:
Ø Jesus, God’s Miraculous, Merciful-to-all
Messiah (cf. 15:27, 28)
Ø The Marveling, Mixed-Motive Outsiders
of Decapolis (John 6:26-42)
Ø The Needy, getting Mercy, Praising
Israel’s God (Is. 29:18-23; 35:4-7)
Ø
The
Dull (less-compassionate?) Disciples (cf. 6:30; 8:25-27; 14:31)
Points to Ponder, Praise to Give, Paths to
Pursue:
v
Have
you come to God’s Messiah, who came to us? (John 1:1-14)
v
Who
will you bring to, put at Jesus’ feet? (Matt. 9:35-38; 28:18-20)
v
Have
you started, or stopped, marveling, praising? (Rom. 11:33-36)
v
Does
faith-filled compassion compel you? (Acts 6; 2 Corin. 5:14)
v
How
many baskets will it take for you to believe? Cf. Matt. 16:8; 17:20
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