Scripture relates an instance where large crowds gathered to hear Jesus teach. As the day drew to an end, his disciples offered a practical suggestion out of concern for the crowd: “This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” (Matthew 14:15)
It’s not at all difficult to understand why the disciples’ first response was to send the people away. After all, they’d been traveling with Jesus as he went from town to town, teaching and healing. They were tired, it had been a long day, and they only had five loaves of bread and two fish. They must have thought that they had barely enough to feed Jesus and the twelve of them.
But when they suggested that the crowds be sent away to find something to eat, Jesus said, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat.” (Matthew 14:16) And with a mere 5 loaves and two fish (coupled with the power of God), the multitude was fed, leaving 12 baskets of leftovers to be gathered up.
Look at the difference in the way Jesus and his disciples approached the problem of the hungry crowd. When the disciples saw that the people needed food, their first response was to send them on their way. But it wasn’t until “all ate and were satisfied” (v. 20) that Jesus dismissed the crowds.
It is easier… far easier… to “send the crowds away” when we see people in need. In this day and age especially, when we are bombarded by the media with 24-hour-a-day coverage of human misery, it is easy to develop a serious case of “compassion fatigue”. But this Gospel passage urges us to deal more directly with the needs of others. And this was evidently a lesson that the disciples took to heart, as we can see in this passage:
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
- James 2:14-17
What about us? You and I? When we see people in need, do we send them away out of our sight? Or do we share the little we have, counting on God to supply whatever we may lack?
I know of a church that does this frequently as it is not in their agenda to serve the real needy.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of that passage in this context. I have certainly been guilty of "sending them away," though I try to be obedient when God prompts me to help someone.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this perspective.