Work for the Wow
In Matthew chapter 15 we read the story of Jesus feeding 4,000 men plus women and children. The story begins pretty similar to the story shared only a few chapters earlier when Jesus fed 5,000. Crowds of people were gathered around Jesus, desperate to see him heal and hear him teach, but after a while they find themselves hungry with nothing to eat. In Matthew 15 we see Jesus gather up his disciples and pose the problem to them: “I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” Jesus has compassion on them and wants to give them food to eat, so he tasks his disciples to help make it happen.
The disciples respond back to Jesus and that’s where I believe this story get super interesting. They say to Jesus in verse 33 “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?”
They were staring at the same Jesus who, only a few chapters earlier, had fed 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish… and now they stood there with 7 loaves and a few small fish and they act like they had completely forgotten that miracle had occurred.
How on earth is that possible!? How on earth could they have literally ‘tasted and seen’ Jesus perform an incredible miracle of multiplying a little boys lunch to feed thousands of people, and then suddenly, after only a few months had passed, act like it never happened?!
Maybe they did forget. Maybe that IS actually what happened. They were with Jesus and he certainly did a ton of miracles. Maybe somewhere between healing the lame, calming a storm and causing men to see they actually just forgot. I can attest that there are times that I have found myself so thick in my own problems that I have a hard time thinking straight or focusing on the things I know to be true. Maybe that’s what happened with these disciples.
Or maybe it’s something else…
Maybe, just maybe, the problem was not that the disciples couldn’t see a solution to this problem….maybe the problem is that the disciples COULD see the solution, and remembered the amount of work it required of them to see the miracle.
I have 6 people in my family, and anyone who is responsible for feeding other people can attest that feeding a group of people is hard work. At the beginning of each week I sit down to game plan, and a good majority of that time is spent developing a grocery list that will feed my family with healthy meals, and fit into our crazy, nonstop life. In our home I have to balance 3 different meal times most weeknights based on widely different activity schedules, and then I typically clean up after each person finishes their food so they can race out to their next meeting, sports practice, or rehearsal.
I’d be lying if I said that there weren’t some days that I’m just tired. There are some nights when a teenager comes to me asking ‘where they can find food to eat’ and I point them to the air fryer and tell them to figure it out on their own because I’m just over it. There are times that I actually know how to fix the problem…but I just don’t want to.
So go with me on this…. watching Jesus use 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish to feed 5,000 men plus women and children would have been amazing. It would have assuredly been a miracle that everyone talked about because it was so personal and affected so many people. After this miracle occurred, I can totally imagine the disciples sitting around campfires and joking with Jesus about turning rocks into marshmallows so they could have smores, can’t you?
But there’s another side of the story I wonder if the disciples also remembered. We tend to talk about the high points, but I wonder if they had some other elements that quickly came into their minds as soon as the story was shared. As the disciples walked around and passed out food, I imagine it would have been incredibly tiring. I wonder if their legs were worn out after walking around that much, or maybe their arms were sore the next day after carrying around those baskets. So maybe, just maybe, as Jesus brought this situation to his disciples their minds went to the last time they had to feed so many people, and rather than looking with compassion and excitement at the individual faces that were gathered around them… knowing what was coming… they instead looked out, overwhelmed and weary, at the crowd.
If I’m honest, I’ll admit there are days I feel too tired, too weary, or just don’t want to do the work I know God has called me to. Sometimes simple things like knowing I need to text that friend a scripture to encourage her, or walk over to my neighbor’s house to invite them to Christmas Eve, or step out of my car to have a conversation about Jesus with the person at Walmart as he loads the groceries into my car sometimes feel overwhelming, and rather than seeing the individual people God has placed in my life to reach, I just look out and feel life crowding in.
Jesus didn’t see a crowd…..Jesus saw people, and those faces filled him with compassion.
Maybe it’s time we stop looking at everything crowding in around us, allowing life to overwhelm and cripple our thinking. Maybe instead we start looking closely at the faces that God has intentionally put around us, and allow Jesus to fill us with his holy compassion, energy, and excitement to do the work he has called us to do.
Let’s start today. Today, let’s look for faces. Today, let’s watch for the lives that God wants us to interact with, support and showcase his love to. I’m asking him to fill us with his holy energy, and keep our focus fixated on bringing his hope to this world. It may be tiring at times, but let’s ask him to remind us of the blessing that comes from serving him. The blessing that far outweighs the work.
Because sweet sister, following Jesus can be tiring at times…. but it is always worth it.