“Bring them here to Me.”

Matthew 14:13-36 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴ When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.

¹⁵ When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” ¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” ¹⁷ They said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” ¹⁸ And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” ¹⁹ Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, ²⁰ and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. ²¹ There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.

²² Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. ²³ After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. ²⁴ But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. ²⁵ And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. ²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

²⁸ Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” ²⁹ And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” ³¹ Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³² When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. ³³ And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!”

³⁴ When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. ³⁵ And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick; ³⁶ and they implored Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were cured.

In yesterday’s meditation we included John 14:12-14, where Jesus says:  “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”   In today’s text it says:   When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” They said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets. There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.   If we are to do the works that Jesus did, why is that we don’t experience these kinds of miracles today?  Hebrews 13:8 says:  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.  He has not changed. What He was capable of then, He can still do today.  If we want to see and do the works that Jesus did, we need to change.

Let’s look at all that happened in the account. The disciples recognized that there was a problem. They went to Jesus with their solution, send the crowds away. Jesus had a different plan. Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something  to eat!”  When we recognize that we have a problem, do we go to Jesus first or do we wait until we have exhausted all other avenues?   When we come to Jesus with our problem, do we tell Him how to solve it, or do we ask Him what He wants to do? In Isaiah 55:8-9 God says:  My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.  Doesn’t it make more sense that we should ask God for the solution rather than telling him how and what to do? The account continues:  They said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied.  Jesus could have asked God to rain down bread from heaven. After all, God had provided for the Israelites, hundreds of thousands of them, that way for forty years in the wilderness. Instead, Jesus worked with the little that the disciples had. They gave all that they had, He blessed and multiplied it and gave it back to them. That’s the key to us doing the works that Jesus did. It’s not about our ability. It’s about our availability. We need only to give all that we have to Him. In John 14:14 He says:  … I will do it. He will take the little that we have and bless it and multiply it, if we will give it to Him for His purposes. If we will be obedient to His plan and His will, He will work for us and through us to accomplish it. To me, the greatest miracle in today’s account is not that fifteen thousand or more people, about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children, were fed with two fish and five loaves, it’s that: They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets.  There was more left over than they had when they started.  That’s the abundance of heaven. It’s more than we could ask or imagine. That’s what we can expect when we give all that we have and submit to God’s ways.

May Paul’s prayer from Ephesians 3 be our prayer today:  I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.  Amen.