Matthew 14:13–16 (ESV) — 13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in
a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they
followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went
ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their
sick. 15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him
and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds
away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to
eat.”
NOTE: After the
rejection, Jesus begins to focus on the disciples. He does not ignore the
crowds, as this passage clearly shows, but his focus is on teaching his
disciples. Each interaction has a main thought or two. This one seems to
emphasize two things. First, while heartbroken over the evil inflicted on John
the Baptist and needing to get away (some of Jesus' disciples were originally
John's), Jesus puts the needs of others ahead of himself. He shows the
disciples the need to focus on others not their problems. While there are
limits on what we can do in this regard, to the extent possible we are to
sacrifice ourselves for others -- spend and be spent as Paul says in 1 Cor
12:15. The second lesson is to think beyond the possible and consider the impossible
-- don't focus on present circumstances. The example is extreme, the feeding of
the 5000 men with a young boy's lunch, but God is the God of the impossible.
And when faced with obstacles we need to go to God in prayer and focus on what
he wants. Who knows what God might do.
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