Dave spoke from Matt 14:13-21 last Sunday morning, looking at the heart of Jesus. Jesus, being fully man, experienced emotions just as we do (weeping at the death of his friend, Lazarus, and experiencing anger at the hard-heartedness of the Pharisees, for example.) In this passage, we often focus on the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, but Dave looked at the emotions experienced by Jesus at this time and how he wants to involve us in meeting the needs of other people, regardless of how we may be feeling at any particular time.
Jesus had just learned of his cousin’s death and wanted to be alone, but when followed by crowds, he had compassion on them. He put their needs before his own needs for privacy and time to grieve. He did not act in a selfish way, but involved his disciples in this great miracle of feeding which is recorded in all four gospels. Jesus always wants to involve us in his works, but sometimes we don’t want to get involved. If we respond, however, to his invitations, we can find ourselves in a life of ministry and service which far exceeds anything we can do on our own. Every one of us, without exception, does come across situations in which we can help. In such situations, we should have the heart of Jesus, the heart that puts aside our hurts and our needs and meets the needs of others. Are we willing to be used by Jesus to help others?
