Jesus feeding the 5000 is the only miracle which is mentioned in all the four Gospels.(Please read Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:1-13 also.)

This incident happened immediately after the beheading of John the Baptist by King Herod.(Mt.14:3-12)

JESUS decided to go to a solitary place with His disciples in a boat. When people got news where He was going, they went to that place by foot.

A. Jesus’ ministry to the crowd.
When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them…. Mt.14:14.

In Mark 6:34, Jesus seeing a large crowd, “He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, so he began teaching them many things.

In Luke 9:11, seeing the crowd, He welcomed them and spoke to them about the Kingdom of God and healed those who needed healing. He understood their hopeless situation and started teaching them. First spiritual food and then physical healing. Afterwards he gave them physical food also. Jesus was concerned about the total person. Spiritual, physical, social…We should also be concerned about the total person in our ministry.

There are lots of people around us. Do we see them and what is our feeling? What are we doing for them?

B. Concern and helplessness of the disciples
“This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late, send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Mt:14:15
Disciples were concerned about the people. Their solution was to send them away to solve their problem by themselves.

C. Jesus’ concern for the needs and problems of people
“They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. Mt.14:16

Jesus wanted to help them in their needs and problems.

Philip said, “Eight months wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite” John.6:8.

This was a huge amount to the disciples..
“How many loaves do you have..?

Andrew.. “Here is a boy with five SMALL barley loaves and two SMALL fish..” John.6:9.
That was the food which his mother packed just for him, so obviously it was less. He was willing to give that away for Jesus and for others. We need to appreciate that unnamed boy for his willingness. We should give credit to his parents also. If our child was in that situation, how would he or she have responded? Are we willing to give what we have for Jesus and for His ministry?
When Jesus blessed the little, it multiplied and satisfied the multitudes. For that to happen, our little should reach His Hands.

They all ate and were satisfied. Mt.14:20. When God gives, all our needs will be satisfied.
The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. Mt.14:21. There were between 10 to 15,000 people who ate and were satisfied.

After they all had food, Jesus asked his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over, let nothing be wasted” John 6:12. Jesus was teaching them not to waste anything, even the leftover food.

Do we waste food or anything which could help others? Are we concerned about the millions who are dying due to starvation and are going through different needs?

All those who went to Jesus were satisfied. Let us always go to Him with our needs. He will never send us away empty handed.

Like Jesus, are we concerned about the spiritual, physical, social, financial.. needs of the people around us?

Like the little boy, are we willing to give to Jesus what we have?

Rev. C. V. Abraham

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺
Matthew 14:24 “But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.”

Jesus made the disciples get into the boat (14:22)
But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.
Peter and his fellow riders knew they were in trouble.
They gripped the boat for fear of the waves. They screamed their prayers for help. But they heard nothing.

The disciples were exhausted.

Look how Matthew described the condition of the storm in the above verse..
They were “in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary”

• THE STORM WAS VERY REAL, AND
• THEY WERE TOO FAR FROM THE SHORE,
• TOO LONG IN THE STRUGGLE, AND
• TOO SMALL AGAINST THE WAVES.

Have you ever encountered a dangerous,threatening, seemingly godforsaken storm?

Storms can dominate our lives as well.
But then the unimaginable happens.

“They saw Jesus… walking on the water.”
That is all we need to know.

Before Jesus stills the storms, He comes to us in the midst of our storms.

He says to us what He said to the disciples:

“It is I; don’t be afraid. When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down …

So………

Don’t let the storm turn us inward. Let it turn us upward.

When we find ourselves in the midst of Galilean waters with no shore in sight, He will come to us.
He says to us……….
“I am God, your personal God.” “So don’t be afraid: I’m with you”.

Jooley Mathew Z
🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

Matt 15:13 Jesus replied Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted

It may be a good plant, or a big plant or one that others appreciate, the question is who planted it you_ or God?

We can have bright ideas and produce impressive things. But in the final day, lord will see whether this idea orginated from God or was it yours? Anything that originates from us is doomed to be destroyed one day. God should be the originator of our plans. He should put a burden in our heart and if we work for it we will bear eternal fruits

So we have to pray and wait on God and seek His leading in every step of our life. We should not do anything that did not orginate from God we should not rush into doing things for God Wait on Him and do things His way Depend on Him and glorify only His name.

cynthia Sathiaraj
Chennai

THE PACKED LUNCH!!
THE YOUNG LAD
MATTHEW14:15-21;15:34-38

👦The Little Lad was just a face in the crowd.
Nothing is mentioned about his family or the presence of his parents in that huge crowd.(John6:9).

Jesus was his Super-Hero.His bedtime stories were all about Him.His joy knew no bounds when he heard that his Super -Hero was in town.

He was all excited to see Him.All set for his journey with the PACKED LUNCH which his mom had so lovingly
tucked under his arms with instructions to consume them on time .

The PACKED LUNCH was just enough for him.5 loaves and 2 small Fish.🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🐠🐠

Little did this boy 👨know that his PACKED LUNCH would create History and would be recorded in the Holy Book The Bible📘
and that would become the favourite bed time story where He would be the HERO of the story along with his Super-Hero.

This young lad 👨sat down and heard the teachings of Jesus patiently that he forgot about his lunch.

Suddenly a disciple 👦asks him his lunch and this hungry lad selflessly hands it over to him.

His Packed Lunch
was in the hands of His Super -Hero.
He saw Him praying over it and then it multiplied and more then five thousand people ate it ,all full satisfied and with 12 baskets leftover.
WOW!!
He has just withessed what his Super -Hero could do.The Biggest Miracle of His Life.
He Loved his Super Hero and thanked his mom for the Packed Lunch

Lessons learnt from the lad:
👨His love for Jesus.
👦His selflessness.
👨His response to the disciple.
👦His sharing attitude.
👨His patience to sit through so long.
👨He heard the teachings of Jesus till the end.
👦His interest to walk the mile to see Jesus.
👨Attentiveness.

The above becomes a Check-list for us .
Does any of those characters relate to us?
MATTHEW 18:3says:
And said, “Assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Amen.
Suneeta.