August 6, 2023

Today's Reading: Matthew 14:13-21 

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 2:18-36, Acts 15:22-41

Matthew 14:14: “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The feeding of the 5000 happens right after John the Baptist gets his head cut off for preaching the stuff God told him to preach.  It makes bread and fish seem like less, even if He healed a few sick people along the way.  Especially since Jesus left afterwards so He wouldn’t have to do it again.  Reading about miracles in the Bible only seems to highlight the places they aren’t today.  So instead of measuring God by every single problem, by everything you think you lack, look to who He is in the face of all of it.

It was compassion that moved Jesus each time.  It was compassion for the loss of His friend that drove Him to the desolate places to mourn.  It was compassion for the people there that drove Him to feed the people that followed Him.  It was even compassion that drove Him away after.  When He went, it wasn’t to abandon them. He carried their pains and fears and most of all their sins with Him. He wanted to do more than answer one fear after another as they arose.  He wasn’t meant to be that kind of King.  He left to snuff them out completely.   His was to go into Jerusalem to wear a crown of thorns so that sinful desire and scared idolatry would not devour us, that enemies like death and the devil would be robbed of their sting. That the sinners would find mercy.  That the dead would live. That those who hunger and thirst for righteousness would be satisfied.  Even when everything looks like this.  Maybe you don’t see Him still working in the middle of all your problems, but neither did the disciples surrounded by hungry mouths to feed.   

In the face of fear and sorrow and a complete lack of everything needed, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks, broke it and gave it to the disciples. 5000 were fed.  The same love, the same mercy that drove Him to care for those saints drives Him to care for you, even if He does it differently.  Today I don’t see 5000 fed, but the body and blood of Jesus forgive my sins.  That does more than leave me fed once and looking for the next meal. You can have some too. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Heavenly Father, though we do not deserve Your goodness, still You provide for all our needs of body and soul. Grant us Your Holy Spirit that we may acknowledge Your gifts, give thanks for all Your benefits,

and serve You in willing obedience; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 

-Pastor Harrison Goodman is Content Executive for Higher Things.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the Pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.