Jesus Healing a Kneeling Man Before a Crowdby KandD
14:14Matthew 14:14
And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
Jesus withdrew by boat to a lonely desert place near Bethsaida for rest with His disciples, but a great multitude followed Him on foot without invitation and He went forth to meet them rather than withdraw from them. He looked upon them with pure compassion as a good Shepherd upon sheep without a shepherd, recognizing their hunger, weariness, sickness and thirst for truth. Moved with that compassion He spent the whole day teaching them the way of salvation and healing all the sick and afflicted brought to Him, even those with hopeless diseases. He would not send them home hungry and faint, but in dependence on His Father miraculously increased five barley loaves and two small fishes to satisfy more than ten thousand, with twelve baskets left over. In receiving from the Father and giving through His disciples to the multitude, He established the pattern for His followers to receive grace from Him and impart it in unselfish ministry to the hungry and sick.
Setting in the Wilderness
Jesus had withdrawn by boat across the lake from Capernaum to a lonely, secluded desert place near Bethsaida at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, to find retirement with His disciples. It was a region beautiful with the fresh green of spring, an out-of-the-way place away from the villages and cities where He had taught and apart from the confusion of the multitude. He had gone there to gain rest and undisturbed fellowship with His disciples, where they could listen to His words undisturbed by the retorts and accusations of the Pharisees and talk of the work of the gospel and making their labor more effective, vitalized by divine power and inspired with hope and courage as He opened to them the treasures of truth. After only a short precious time alone, the multitude supposed He had gone to His usual place of retirement and followed Him there.
They came on foot and in boats, gathering in increasing numbers without invitation far from home, with intense anxiety for His coming. They had listened to Him eagerly all day, and as evening drew on they were hungry and faint, weary and in need of food and rest. God’s providence had placed Him there in the wilderness among them, and He knew their human need for food and shared it. He would not let them return home without food.
Though He had sought rest, His hope to gain even one hour of rest was frustrated. He left His retreat and went forth to meet them, giving up the rest He sought because the waiting multitude commanded His attention. He would not withdraw, steal away, or disappoint those who had come seeking help, but put their need before His own rest. Seeing their need, He at once gave immediate sympathy and aid.
The crowd numbered five thousand men besides women and children, in all more than ten thousand. Those fed on this occasion at Bethsaida were Jews, in contrast to the Gentiles and heathen later fed in Decapolis. The disciples personally saw this provision at Bethsaida, yet afterward failed to bring forward all they had in trust that His power could multiply it again for hungry crowds.
The teachings and manner of work in Matthew 13-14 began with instruction to the few who gathered to hear Him and then continued in a retired place with lessons from the Word. He traveled slowly and opened the Scriptures in simplicity to minds that would receive the truth, because there was a world to hear and souls who had not yet heard the truth would accept it. His lessons there were faithfully reported by believing disciples to leave their impression on the hearts of all believers to the end of time, as teachings essential to higher education holding the principles that underlie true education, higher than any instruction that can come from human minds or lips. All these circumstances were to make His work known to those who after His crucifixion and resurrection would be His disciples, showing His concern for people and the value of the souls He came to save.
After being fed the previous day, the people had left Him on the barren shore knowing He had no boat to depart in. They came back the next morning to the place where they had last seen Him watching them with compassion. News of the feeding miracle had spread widely, so people arrived early in large numbers by land and water.
Compassion for the Multitude
The verse shows a good Shepherd whose pure, compassionate heart held only love and pity for restless, thirsting souls. He looked on the multitude as sheep without a shepherd, recognized their need, and gave them care rather than turning them away. He had crossed by boat to a lonely region near Bethsaida at the northern end of the lake, beautiful with the fresh green of spring, apart from the confusion of the crowd, to gain fellowship with His disciples undisturbed by the retorts and accusations of the Pharisees, to talk of the work of the gospel and making their labor more effective, vitalized by divine power and inspired with hope and courage as He opened to them the treasures of truth. After only a short precious time alone the multitude supposed He had gone to His usual place of retirement and followed Him there, frustrating His hope to gain even one hour of rest, yet He left His retreat to minister to them. All day He ministered to their needs and at evening dismissed them to go to their homes and rest, teaching them the way of salvation and healing their sick, while the priests and rulers had given them no help.
The same compassion brought Him from heaven to earth after sin and satanic wickedness had taken possession of children. He laid off His royal crown and robe and clothed divinity with humanity, coming as a little child of poor parents with no place for birth but a stable among cattle, to stand close to humanity and educate it. He walked on foot among the people and gave His lessons to them as they gathered and kept gathering around Him. Crowds flocked to where He was, and on one occasion five thousand besides women and children followed until He saw one and another fainting and falling to the ground weary and hungry. He took notice and provided food from five loaves and a few fishes, seating them in companies, asking blessing on the food so that it increased, passing it through the disciples to the hungry multitude until all were filled with supply still left. After all were satisfied He commanded gathering the fragments so nothing was lost, teaching that what God gives is to be imparted to others and that no one has right to gamble means away or to get means by conniving and robbing another.
His miracles served others and not His own relief, bringing help to the afflicted and oppressed, and His healing and feeding expressed His love for humanity and His mission. He healed the sick among the suffering multitudes brought to Him, and the feeding of the five thousand is another example of that miraculous power used for human need. Moved with compassion He attended at once to the needs of the sick, healed their sick, comforted the people and comforted their sorrow, and His care continued as He taught them and provided food rather than sending them away hungry. His benevolence helped win their hearts.
Even when exhausted, hungry and weary and seeking rest, He would not leave the crowd because each person seeking mercy mattered to Him, and He gave Himself to their urgent needs. He continued teaching and healing with patient, kind attention, calmly accepting interruptions as people and their friends brought sufferers to Him, and even those with hopeless diseases were restored at once. His compassion included concern for ordinary bodily needs and hardship, for people who had followed Him all day, including weary mothers and their children, and He did not let desire to teach spiritual truth make Him indifferent to their bodily needs. He supplied simple food rather than luxury, and He does not promise His followers worldly comforts but promises that their needs will be supplied and that His presence will bring abiding comfort even when fare is plain or scanty and the lot is poverty. His sympathy for them helped many respond to the truths He taught.
Healing and Teaching Ministry
The verse records that He healed their sick, bringing health to the sick and life to the dying, and this compassion and healing formed the setting for feeding the multitude who had followed Him to hear His teaching. It belongs to a Galilean ministry marked by many remarkable works of healing and raising the dead.
Hundreds of the sick and maimed had been brought to be relieved and were laid on the ground where they would catch His eye, representing every malady, including burning fever with unconsciousness, deafness, blindness, palsy, lameness, and lunacy. Looking on this wretched throng, His heart melted with compassion, and their needs enlisted His immediate sympathy and aid. He healed all the sick and afflicted brought to Him, even those with hopeless diseases restored at once.
Pressed by the crowd, He went a little apart upon a grassy eminence where all could see and hear Him, and there He taught them through the entire day. He taught them the way of salvation and dispelled the confusion of those longing for clear truth, while the priests and rulers had given them no help.
He ministered all day to their needs, teaching the crowd and healing the sick and afflicted, patiently accepting interruptions from sufferers and their friends being brought to Him even though He was weary and had come seeking rest. Then at evening He dismissed them to go to their homes and rest.
The account shows His compassion for people in both their spiritual and physical needs, for the people had gathered to hear His words and His teaching about salvation was accompanied by care for bodily needs, including feeding five thousand so that a tired, hungry crowd could receive spiritual benefit. His tender, humble, selfless ministry brought practical help, comfort, and hope to people in distress and won hearts.
Miraculous Provision of Food
Jesus knew their human need for food, for they had listened all day and were now hungry and faint for want of food, and He would not let them return home without food. He had those fainting ones seated on a grass plot in companies, and in dependence on His heavenly Father provided for them by God's providence placed there for that need. The feeding was a miracle of mercy for suffering humanity, showing Him as the world's Redeemer possessing omnipotent power and beneficence and as the great Provider for the world, who miraculously increased the food.
With only five barley loaves and two small fishes, or a few small fishes, for five thousand men besides women and children, all were satisfied and twelve baskets of fragments remained. What seems meager or insufficient by human measure can become enough and more than enough in His hands, and the smallness of the supply did not prevent great things. God can multiply limited resources when they are used in trust, making a small provision sufficient for a multitude as in the earlier multiplication for one hundred men. That multiplying power enables people in need to be reached with the bread of life and teaches that Christ can do great things for His people and their work today.
The power that multiplied the loaves illustrates God's power at work in the harvest, the same power at work each day in the growth of grain and the provision of food. People should recognize God's agency in these gifts and use them as blessings rather than for selfish ends. After all were satisfied He commanded gathering the fragments so nothing was lost, teaching that what God gives is to be imparted to others. No one has right to gamble means away or to get means by conniving and robbing another.
The feeding shows God providing for a real human need, and supplying necessary food is one means God uses to care for people. The heavenly Provider gives knowledge for preparing suitable, wholesome food and health foods for different times and occasions, and health-food work is one means of meeting those needs. Yet His compassion in miraculously healing and feeding does not remove the need for human effort and health agencies, nor teach that people should make no effort to provide the necessities of life or that institutions for the suffering should be abolished. He used the miracles to impart spiritual truths vital to salvation of the soul, while God still expects the sick to be placed where they can have hygienic living and treatment because He will not always keep people alive by miracle.
The episode shows Jesus can provide for bodily needs and that His benevolent care continues to provide for His people. His provision is an example of the help He gives today to those who work with Him, including tact, skill, and understanding. The crowd's eager listening and need for food prompted the thought that, had Jesus been present, He would have had compassion and miraculously provided bread.
Example for Christian Service
The feeding teaches a chain of giving in which Christ received from the Father and imparted to the disciples, the disciples imparted to the multitude, and the people shared with one another. All who are united with Christ receive from Him the bread of life, the heavenly food, and impart it to others, for the disciples were the channel of communication between Christ the great Center and Source of all strength and the people. In full reliance upon God He took the small store of loaves, and though it was only a small supply for His own family of disciples He did not invite them to eat first but began to distribute and told them to serve the people. The food multiplied in His hands while the hands of the disciples reaching out to Christ Himself the Bread of Life were never empty, so the little store was sufficient for all and after the wants of the people were supplied the fragments were gathered up and Christ and His disciples ate of the precious heaven-supplied food. Even the most intelligent and spiritually minded can supply nothing for the needs of the soul of themselves but can impart only as they receive and can receive only as they impart, so as they continue to impart they continue to receive and the more they impart the more they receive, and in giving the gift is increased.
Christ supplies what people need and uses His disciples to serve them, and the work of giving the word of life to hungry souls likewise depends on God, who provides means and helpers for it. His command to give the people food is backed by the same power that supplied their need, and what is placed in the Lord's hands can be blessed and multiplied to meet a great need. He was attentive to everyone who came needing attention, with great multitudes following Him wherever He went, and He was their sanctuary and helper and the great leading Physician in this world, granting in Himself what sanitariums grant now. On the occasion when there were five thousand men besides women and children, with more on other occasions and some fainting, He led them to a grassy plot to be seated, asked what food there was, took five loaves and a few small fishes, divided them with His disciples to distribute to the multitude, and there was enough for all.
Those who are softened and subdued and sanctified by His Holy Spirit are to study how to work these very works of Christ, dedicating themselves to God so He gives His Holy Spirit to communicate to those in necessity, going about doing good, feeding the hungry and healing the sick. His life teaches that He came not for riches or honor but to minister to the suffering and needy, and that unselfish service rather than self-seeking reveals God's character and law. His tender pity for people in need rebukes selfishness and heartlessness, and calls His followers to practical work for others. Taking pity on the crowds and providing for them, He gave the pattern for using every possible means intelligently to reach people, teaching followers to share what they have with those who lack the truth. He worked by walking on foot from place to place and from city to city with the crowd following Him until five thousand men besides women and children were gathered with nothing to eat, and He told them to sit down and fed them.
His example offers lessons for carrying out practical work: use the Lord's methods, choose simple and economical means, and do not let selfish private interests obstruct the work. When people make the best use of the means they have, God can provide abundantly for those hungry for the bread of life, for He can bless and multiply a scanty provision so it meets the needs of a multitude. What is given unselfishly to support His work He works with and can increase. The miracle teaches disciples to care about people seeking salvation and to make practical efforts so that those who come to hear the word of life are not neglected when weary or hungry. Christians should find ways to help and remove obstacles that make the way to Christ wearisome or objectionable.
Jesus withdrew by boat to a lonely desert place near Bethsaida for rest with His disciples, but a great multitude followed Him on foot without invitation and He went forth to meet them rather than withdraw from them. He looked upon them with pure compassion as a good Shepherd upon sheep without a shepherd, recognizing their hunger, weariness, sickness and thirst for truth. Moved with that compassion He spent the whole day teaching them the way of salvation and healing all the sick and afflicted brought to Him, even those with hopeless diseases. He would not send them home hungry and faint, but in dependence on His Father miraculously increased five barley loaves and two small fishes to satisfy more than ten thousand, with twelve baskets left over. In receiving from the Father and giving through His disciples to the multitude, He established the pattern for His followers to receive grace from Him and impart it in unselfish ministry to the hungry and sick.
Setting in the Wilderness
Jesus had withdrawn by boat across the lake from Capernaum to a lonely, secluded desert place near Bethsaida at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, to find retirement with His disciples. It was a region beautiful with the fresh green of spring, an out-of-the-way place away from the villages and cities where He had taught and apart from the confusion of the multitude. He had gone there to gain rest and undisturbed fellowship with His disciples, where they could listen to His words undisturbed by the retorts and accusations of the Pharisees and talk of the work of the gospel and making their labor more effective, vitalized by divine power and inspired with hope and courage as He opened to them the treasures of truth. After only a short precious time alone, the multitude supposed He had gone to His usual place of retirement and followed Him there.
They came on foot and in boats, gathering in increasing numbers without invitation far from home, with intense anxiety for His coming. They had listened to Him eagerly all day, and as evening drew on they were hungry and faint, weary and in need of food and rest. God’s providence had placed Him there in the wilderness among them, and He knew their human need for food and shared it. He would not let them return home without food.
Though He had sought rest, His hope to gain even one hour of rest was frustrated. He left His retreat and went forth to meet them, giving up the rest He sought because the waiting multitude commanded His attention. He would not withdraw, steal away, or disappoint those who had come seeking help, but put their need before His own rest. Seeing their need, He at once gave immediate sympathy and aid.
The crowd numbered five thousand men besides women and children, in all more than ten thousand. Those fed on this occasion at Bethsaida were Jews, in contrast to the Gentiles and heathen later fed in Decapolis. The disciples personally saw this provision at Bethsaida, yet afterward failed to bring forward all they had in trust that His power could multiply it again for hungry crowds.
The teachings and manner of work in Matthew 13-14 began with instruction to the few who gathered to hear Him and then continued in a retired place with lessons from the Word. He traveled slowly and opened the Scriptures in simplicity to minds that would receive the truth, because there was a world to hear and souls who had not yet heard the truth would accept it. His lessons there were faithfully reported by believing disciples to leave their impression on the hearts of all believers to the end of time, as teachings essential to higher education holding the principles that underlie true education, higher than any instruction that can come from human minds or lips. All these circumstances were to make His work known to those who after His crucifixion and resurrection would be His disciples, showing His concern for people and the value of the souls He came to save.
After being fed the previous day, the people had left Him on the barren shore knowing He had no boat to depart in. They came back the next morning to the place where they had last seen Him watching them with compassion. News of the feeding miracle had spread widely, so people arrived early in large numbers by land and water.
Compassion for the Multitude
The verse shows a good Shepherd whose pure, compassionate heart held only love and pity for restless, thirsting souls. He looked on the multitude as sheep without a shepherd, recognized their need, and gave them care rather than turning them away. He had crossed by boat to a lonely region near Bethsaida at the northern end of the lake, beautiful with the fresh green of spring, apart from the confusion of the crowd, to gain fellowship with His disciples undisturbed by the retorts and accusations of the Pharisees, to talk of the work of the gospel and making their labor more effective, vitalized by divine power and inspired with hope and courage as He opened to them the treasures of truth. After only a short precious time alone the multitude supposed He had gone to His usual place of retirement and followed Him there, frustrating His hope to gain even one hour of rest, yet He left His retreat to minister to them. All day He ministered to their needs and at evening dismissed them to go to their homes and rest, teaching them the way of salvation and healing their sick, while the priests and rulers had given them no help.
The same compassion brought Him from heaven to earth after sin and satanic wickedness had taken possession of children. He laid off His royal crown and robe and clothed divinity with humanity, coming as a little child of poor parents with no place for birth but a stable among cattle, to stand close to humanity and educate it. He walked on foot among the people and gave His lessons to them as they gathered and kept gathering around Him. Crowds flocked to where He was, and on one occasion five thousand besides women and children followed until He saw one and another fainting and falling to the ground weary and hungry. He took notice and provided food from five loaves and a few fishes, seating them in companies, asking blessing on the food so that it increased, passing it through the disciples to the hungry multitude until all were filled with supply still left. After all were satisfied He commanded gathering the fragments so nothing was lost, teaching that what God gives is to be imparted to others and that no one has right to gamble means away or to get means by conniving and robbing another.
His miracles served others and not His own relief, bringing help to the afflicted and oppressed, and His healing and feeding expressed His love for humanity and His mission. He healed the sick among the suffering multitudes brought to Him, and the feeding of the five thousand is another example of that miraculous power used for human need. Moved with compassion He attended at once to the needs of the sick, healed their sick, comforted the people and comforted their sorrow, and His care continued as He taught them and provided food rather than sending them away hungry. His benevolence helped win their hearts.
Even when exhausted, hungry and weary and seeking rest, He would not leave the crowd because each person seeking mercy mattered to Him, and He gave Himself to their urgent needs. He continued teaching and healing with patient, kind attention, calmly accepting interruptions as people and their friends brought sufferers to Him, and even those with hopeless diseases were restored at once. His compassion included concern for ordinary bodily needs and hardship, for people who had followed Him all day, including weary mothers and their children, and He did not let desire to teach spiritual truth make Him indifferent to their bodily needs. He supplied simple food rather than luxury, and He does not promise His followers worldly comforts but promises that their needs will be supplied and that His presence will bring abiding comfort even when fare is plain or scanty and the lot is poverty. His sympathy for them helped many respond to the truths He taught.
Healing and Teaching Ministry
The verse records that He healed their sick, bringing health to the sick and life to the dying, and this compassion and healing formed the setting for feeding the multitude who had followed Him to hear His teaching. It belongs to a Galilean ministry marked by many remarkable works of healing and raising the dead.
Hundreds of the sick and maimed had been brought to be relieved and were laid on the ground where they would catch His eye, representing every malady, including burning fever with unconsciousness, deafness, blindness, palsy, lameness, and lunacy. Looking on this wretched throng, His heart melted with compassion, and their needs enlisted His immediate sympathy and aid. He healed all the sick and afflicted brought to Him, even those with hopeless diseases restored at once.
Pressed by the crowd, He went a little apart upon a grassy eminence where all could see and hear Him, and there He taught them through the entire day. He taught them the way of salvation and dispelled the confusion of those longing for clear truth, while the priests and rulers had given them no help.
He ministered all day to their needs, teaching the crowd and healing the sick and afflicted, patiently accepting interruptions from sufferers and their friends being brought to Him even though He was weary and had come seeking rest. Then at evening He dismissed them to go to their homes and rest.
The account shows His compassion for people in both their spiritual and physical needs, for the people had gathered to hear His words and His teaching about salvation was accompanied by care for bodily needs, including feeding five thousand so that a tired, hungry crowd could receive spiritual benefit. His tender, humble, selfless ministry brought practical help, comfort, and hope to people in distress and won hearts.
Miraculous Provision of Food
Jesus knew their human need for food, for they had listened all day and were now hungry and faint for want of food, and He would not let them return home without food. He had those fainting ones seated on a grass plot in companies, and in dependence on His heavenly Father provided for them by God's providence placed there for that need. The feeding was a miracle of mercy for suffering humanity, showing Him as the world's Redeemer possessing omnipotent power and beneficence and as the great Provider for the world, who miraculously increased the food.
With only five barley loaves and two small fishes, or a few small fishes, for five thousand men besides women and children, all were satisfied and twelve baskets of fragments remained. What seems meager or insufficient by human measure can become enough and more than enough in His hands, and the smallness of the supply did not prevent great things. God can multiply limited resources when they are used in trust, making a small provision sufficient for a multitude as in the earlier multiplication for one hundred men. That multiplying power enables people in need to be reached with the bread of life and teaches that Christ can do great things for His people and their work today.
The power that multiplied the loaves illustrates God's power at work in the harvest, the same power at work each day in the growth of grain and the provision of food. People should recognize God's agency in these gifts and use them as blessings rather than for selfish ends. After all were satisfied He commanded gathering the fragments so nothing was lost, teaching that what God gives is to be imparted to others. No one has right to gamble means away or to get means by conniving and robbing another.
The feeding shows God providing for a real human need, and supplying necessary food is one means God uses to care for people. The heavenly Provider gives knowledge for preparing suitable, wholesome food and health foods for different times and occasions, and health-food work is one means of meeting those needs. Yet His compassion in miraculously healing and feeding does not remove the need for human effort and health agencies, nor teach that people should make no effort to provide the necessities of life or that institutions for the suffering should be abolished. He used the miracles to impart spiritual truths vital to salvation of the soul, while God still expects the sick to be placed where they can have hygienic living and treatment because He will not always keep people alive by miracle.
The episode shows Jesus can provide for bodily needs and that His benevolent care continues to provide for His people. His provision is an example of the help He gives today to those who work with Him, including tact, skill, and understanding. The crowd's eager listening and need for food prompted the thought that, had Jesus been present, He would have had compassion and miraculously provided bread.
Example for Christian Service
The feeding teaches a chain of giving in which Christ received from the Father and imparted to the disciples, the disciples imparted to the multitude, and the people shared with one another. All who are united with Christ receive from Him the bread of life, the heavenly food, and impart it to others, for the disciples were the channel of communication between Christ the great Center and Source of all strength and the people. In full reliance upon God He took the small store of loaves, and though it was only a small supply for His own family of disciples He did not invite them to eat first but began to distribute and told them to serve the people. The food multiplied in His hands while the hands of the disciples reaching out to Christ Himself the Bread of Life were never empty, so the little store was sufficient for all and after the wants of the people were supplied the fragments were gathered up and Christ and His disciples ate of the precious heaven-supplied food. Even the most intelligent and spiritually minded can supply nothing for the needs of the soul of themselves but can impart only as they receive and can receive only as they impart, so as they continue to impart they continue to receive and the more they impart the more they receive, and in giving the gift is increased.
Christ supplies what people need and uses His disciples to serve them, and the work of giving the word of life to hungry souls likewise depends on God, who provides means and helpers for it. His command to give the people food is backed by the same power that supplied their need, and what is placed in the Lord's hands can be blessed and multiplied to meet a great need. He was attentive to everyone who came needing attention, with great multitudes following Him wherever He went, and He was their sanctuary and helper and the great leading Physician in this world, granting in Himself what sanitariums grant now. On the occasion when there were five thousand men besides women and children, with more on other occasions and some fainting, He led them to a grassy plot to be seated, asked what food there was, took five loaves and a few small fishes, divided them with His disciples to distribute to the multitude, and there was enough for all.
Those who are softened and subdued and sanctified by His Holy Spirit are to study how to work these very works of Christ, dedicating themselves to God so He gives His Holy Spirit to communicate to those in necessity, going about doing good, feeding the hungry and healing the sick. His life teaches that He came not for riches or honor but to minister to the suffering and needy, and that unselfish service rather than self-seeking reveals God's character and law. His tender pity for people in need rebukes selfishness and heartlessness, and calls His followers to practical work for others. Taking pity on the crowds and providing for them, He gave the pattern for using every possible means intelligently to reach people, teaching followers to share what they have with those who lack the truth. He worked by walking on foot from place to place and from city to city with the crowd following Him until five thousand men besides women and children were gathered with nothing to eat, and He told them to sit down and fed them.
His example offers lessons for carrying out practical work: use the Lord's methods, choose simple and economical means, and do not let selfish private interests obstruct the work. When people make the best use of the means they have, God can provide abundantly for those hungry for the bread of life, for He can bless and multiply a scanty provision so it meets the needs of a multitude. What is given unselfishly to support His work He works with and can increase. The miracle teaches disciples to care about people seeking salvation and to make practical efforts so that those who come to hear the word of life are not neglected when weary or hungry. Christians should find ways to help and remove obstacles that make the way to Christ wearisome or objectionable.