Hey everybody! Thank you for joining me in daily Bible reading as we seek to glorify Jesus, know Him more, and interpret the truth of His Word.
If this is your first time going through the Bible, I am incredibly excited to have you here. If this is your 5000th time, I am humbled that you are here and hope you grow in your relationship with Jesus along with me. May we all seek to know Him more and apply what we learn to further our mission of spreading the gospel. If you missed a day and want to catch up, visit the archives page HERE! But there is no shame if you start today! Day 181, Matthew 15:32-39 — Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand Matthew 15:32-39 (NASB1995) “And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, ‘I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.’ 33 The disciples ‘said to Him, ‘Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?’ 34 And Jesus said to them, ‘How many loaves do you have?’ And they said, ‘Seven, and a few small fish.’ 35 And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; 36 and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 37 And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. 38 And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan.” Discussion Yesterday, we read about Jesus healing a crowd of Gentiles of various ailments. Jesus and His disciples made a long journey around the Sea of Galilee and rested along a mountainside before a great crowd found Him. This crowd consisted of Jews and non-Jews as Jesus traveled throughout all of Israel and the news of His encounter with the Canaanite woman likely spread like wildfire. It is as if the healing of the Canaanite woman’s daughter was just the appetizer for this miraculous event. The people brought all who were ailing to Jesus for healing. Instead of turning down these Gentiles, Jesus shows compassion for Israel’s enemies and demonstrates the deep love God has for all people, including those who are far from Him. We learned before that some people who came to Jesus for healing did not care about His Messianic claim, but that does not seem to be the case here. This crowd of Gentiles marveled at Jesus’ miracles and glorified Him as the Jewish Messiah. Today, we read about another of Jesus’ great miracles. Matthew writes, “And [then] Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, ‘I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.’” This crowd was so great that Jesus spent three entire days working miracles amongst the people. He healed the crippled, blind, mute, deaf, and many others suffering from various ailments, demonstrating the power and love of God. But the time had come when these people needed to eat, as some likely traveled a long distance to see Jesus and did not bring proper resources. The situation seems dire as Jesus shows concern that some of them might even faint from hunger. Clearly, “more is at stake than in the earlier feeding, which envisages only the missing of an evening meal.”[1] Knowing their needs, Jesus could not let these people leave without food, so He told the disciples to feed the crowd. This scenario is nearly identical to the first miraculous feeding of the five thousand, which was really fifteen to twenty thousand (Matt. 14:15-21). In this passage, there are an estimated four thousand people excluding women and children—the real number is likely more, but true estimates are unknown. The disciples probably expected Jesus to have no issue replicating that miracle, but they replied to Him, “33 Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?” It is as if the disciples completely forgot about the first miracle—or maybe they assume Jesus will figure it out like usual. Regardless, Jesus replied, “How many loaves do you have?” In the first feeding miracle, Jesus had just five loaves of bread and two fish to work with. In this miracle, He has seven loaves and “a few small fish.” In a moment of brief Deja Vu, Jesus then directed the people to sit on the ground, took the bread and fish, and gave thanks. “36 He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 37 And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full.” The similarity between this miracle and the feeding of the five thousand is striking. Both of these miracles also resemble the Old Testament story about Elisha (2 Ki. 4:42-44), where God fed over one hundred men, showcasing His great power and faithfulness. Following the miracle, Jesus sent away the healed and satisfied crowds, “and got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan.” Notably, Mark 8:10 says Jesus “came to the district of Dalmanutha.” Both Magdala and Dalmanutha were on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee and close to each other in distance.[2] We will read about another of Jesus’ encounters with the Pharisees in this place tomorrow. Application The application of today’s passage is another chance for us to glorify God as we acknowledge His great love, compassion, and power. It is such a blessing to have the Scriptures to recount the wondrous works God has demonstrated throughout history. Sometimes the best thing we can apply when reading a passage is simply acknowledging how beautiful our God is. It is a time when we can rest and remain idle in His presence and remember to count all the blessings He has provided for us in our lives. I usually use these passages to give thanks to God for all He has done and look forward to all that He will do when He returns one day to rid us of all sin, hunger, and despair for good. May we praise, worship, honor, and glorify Jesus every day in all that we do while continually pursuing righteousness, holiness, and forgiveness as He forgave us. Looking Ahead Thank you for joining today’s daily Bible reading! Next, we read Matthew 16:1-4. I hope you join me! I have made commenting available, so please feel free to discuss the reading and ask questions. If you do not want to discuss publicly, you can reach out to me privately. We are on this journey together. References [1] Doug O’Donnell, “New International Greek Testament Commentary.” [2] Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, “Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary.”
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