Matthew 15:32-39 Then Jesus called his disciples to him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days… Having let fall that crumb under the table, in the parts of Tyre and Sidon, Jesus returns to make a full feast for the children. When he had here performed miracles of healing, he proceeds to the performance of a miracle of feeding. The removal of evil is a prelude to the communication of good. I. THE COMPASSION OF JESUS IS READY. 1. Quick to discern a need. (1) "I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat." Three hours, under ordinary conditions, would be a long service; especially so should the dinner hour be invaded. But here is a service of three days, in which dinner is the last thought with the congregation. The Minister, however, able, and withal considerate. (2) "They have nothing to eat." This world is a desert, where nothing can be found to satisfy the soul of man, but the salvation which Christ has purchased. (3) Christ suffered the multitude to hunger, as Israel of old, to teach them great lessons (see Deuteronomy 8:3). That is sweet to the hungry soul which the full soul loathes. Fasting precedes feasting. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness is the prelude to being satisfied with the bounties of God's table. 2. Quick to provide against calamity. (1) "They may faint in the way." Note: It is fitting and religious to give due attention to the wants of the body. "Our prayers should be for a sound mind in a sound body" (Juvenal). (2) The wants of the body restrain the desires of the spirit. "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Jesus still, from the loftier elevation of the mount of glory, compassionately sees. (3) The compassion of Jesus provides for the everlasting future. Through his merciful provisions we may avoid the hungering and thirsting of perdition. The spiritual body of the better resurrection will have no wants to impair the desires of the spirit. "They hunger no more, neither thirst any more" (see Revelation 7:16-18). So can they "serve God day and night in his temple." II. THE COMPASSION OF JESUS IS POTENT. 1. Its potency had been evinced. Within the year or two of his public ministry how many miracles had Jesus wrought! Yet how few that were not miracles of mercy! 2. Some of these were recent. Within these "three days" how numerous were the "lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others," the healing of whom "astonished" this multitude (see vers. 30, 31)] 3. The potency of the compassion of Jesus was now to receive additional illustration. Here are eight thousand hungry people. Four thousand men, "besides women and children," who were probably as many more. For the nourishment of these there are "seven loaves, and a few small fishes." But "they did all eat, and were filled;" and moreover of the fragments left there were seven hampers. The spyris was larger than the cophinus of the miracle. It seems to have been a load for a porter (see Acts 9:25). A hamper of fragments forevery loaf. III. THE COMPASSION OF JESUS IS DISCRIMINATING. 1. The circumstances of the miracle are instructive. (1) "He gave thanks." In the former miracle with the five loaves "he blessed." It comes to the same. Giving thanks to God is a proper way to ask the blessing of God. Thanks given before taking food (see Acts 27:35) acknowledges his past bounty, craves his blessing upon the present, anticipates the future. All good comes from God. His blessing makes little go far. (2) He used all the provision he had. God works miracles only, and in so far as there is necessity. So are we to use the means Providence sets before us. When these fail, then trust God. What his ordinary providence denies his miraculous power will supply. All spiritual blessings are immediately from God, so miraculous. (3) The multitude sat down in faith. They saw but little. Yet took advice and prepared themselves for a banquet. So they were all "filled." Those whom Jesus feeds he fills (see Psalm 65:4; Isaiah 55:2). Not only was Jesus from Bethlehem; he is Bethlehem himself, the House of bread. (4) He then "sent the multitude away." Though he had twice fed them, they must not expect miracles to give them daily food. Meanwhile he himself entered the boat and came to Magdala. He generally withdrew after working a miracle, lest the people should attempt to raise a sedition and make him a King (cf. Matthew 14:22; John 6:15). How different from the conduct of a pseudo-Messiah! 2. There are lessons in the service of the disciples. (1) To them he first expressed his tender sympathy for the people. This was a mark of his friendship. The disciples of Christ know most of his goodness. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him" (cf. Genesis 18:17-19; Psalm 25:14; Amos 3:7; John 7:17; John 15:15). (2) The communication was also intended to quicken their compassions, to teach them generosity, and to strengthen their faith. Their answer showed that they needed the lesson, "Whence should we have so many loaves." etc.? (ver. 33). "They walked in a world of wonders, spiritual and physical, where they felt strange, until the Holy Ghost came and brought to their minds all that Christ had done" (Olshausen, John 14:26). Forgetting former experience leaves us in present doubt. Here is no niggardliness of today in forethought for tomorrow. (3) The disciples had the custody of the provisions. To them also is committed the custody of the bread of God's Word. They have had to shield it. from the vigilance of the anti-Christian destroyer. (4) They are the dispensers of the Word of grace for the nourishment of the world. In their hands it multiplies both in the dispensing and in the store. - J.A.M. Parallel Verses KJV: Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. |
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