ESOCS Devotional 3 April 2024 – The Compassionate Messiah
MEMORY VERSE: “When evening came, the disciples approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves. They don’t need to go away,” Jesus told them. “You give them something to eat.” Matthew 14:15-16
TEXT: MATTHEW 14:13-21
Now when Jesus heard this he went away from there privately in a boat to an isolated place. But when the crowd heard about it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 As he got out he saw the large crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 When evening arrived, his disciples came to him saying, “This is an isolated place and the hour is already late. Send the crowds away so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But he replied, “They don’t need to go. You give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” 18 “Bring them here to me,” he replied. 19 Then he instructed the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, and looking up to heaven he gave thanks and broke the loaves. He gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.20 They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, twelve baskets full. 21 Not counting women and children, there were about 5,000 men who ate.
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Jesus had gone through some intense stuff, and He knew that He would be going through some more intense stuff soon in the future. So, He just wanted to be alone. However, due to His popularity, people wouldn’t leave Him alone. Even in a remote place that He had gone to by boat, people found Him. When He arrived on shore there were crowds of people waiting for Him. I imagine that if that were me in the boat, I would have just got back in the boat and found another spot, but not Jesus. The Messiah has unmatched compassion for people! Rather than be alone and tend to His own hurt, Jesus addressed the hurt of the people. He had compassion on them and He healed their sick.
Listen, church: there is no compassion like the compassion of Jesus the Messiah! If you have hurt, He has healing. If you have sorrow, He has satisfaction. If you have challenges, He has compassion. We see Jesus’ compassion further demonstrated for the crowds, beyond His healing of their sick ones.
We have here this account of the disciples wanting to send the crowds away. They did not want to turn them away because they were being mean. They wanted to turn them away because they knew that they were probably hungry and they needed to eat. However, Jesus, because of His great compassion for the crowds, didn’t want to send the crowds away. He wanted them to have the best of both worlds: staying with Him and having something to eat.
We’ll see more of this later in the passage, but Jesus is not limited in the way that He can bless you. He can bless you with healing and provision. He can bless you beyond your wildest imagination! His compassion is deep and wide. His résumé of compassion qualifies Him for any task! Until you are compassionate, your being in the church will remain questionable!
- In what ways are like Jesus? Think about it and answer to yourself.
- Lord Jesus, please grant me the divine grace to be like you in all things.
Further Reading: 1 Samuel 1:21-end; 2:1-11; Jeremiah 1:11-end; Galatians 1:11-end
ESOCS Devotional 3 April 2024
