Jesus Knows Our Needs

 Matthew 14: 13-21

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “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.”

16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

The loving, tender. compassionate heart of Jesus comes clearly to the fore as we see him respond to the hunger of this large crowd. He does not panic, he is in control as comes to the rescue in this dramatic way, not only satisfying their hunger, but also giving us a preview of how he will eventually give us the Bread that will satisfy the spiritual hunger of those who believe in him.  Jesus knows our needs and he knows how to satisfy them in ways we never dreamed of.  Even today we can still eat the Bread of Life, which never grows stale n=and for which, consciously or unconsciously, we hunger. May we admit our hunger and satisfy it as frequently as we can. Let us also trust that he will satisfy all our needs.

Bro. Rene