This last week at youth group, both high school and junior
high covered the same commonly known passages of Matthew 14: the feeding of the
5,000 and Jesus walking on water. Whether these stories come to you as knew or
as old, they bring life-changing truth about the person and heart of our God and
Savior Jesus Christ.
Sometime after Jesus was baptized by his earthly cousin,
John the Baptist, John was imprisoned and later executed at the hands of Herod
the tetrarch because of his faithfulness to stand up for the truth. Our study
started in Matthew 14:13[1]
which tells us that Jesus withdrew to a desolate place by himself after he
heard the news of John’s death. This is pretty cool… not because of Jesus’
pain, but because Jesus experienced the pain. Jesus is God, who took on human
flesh in order to die and deliver men from their sins. When He took on human
flesh, He became limited from some of his divine qualities and He experienced
life with human perspectives. This world is messed up with the evils and
consequences of sin, which taint every part of life on earth and every person
in it; but God is able to understand the pains and hurts we experience because
He also experienced the same pains as we have.
Jesus experienced pain and loss, and He knows what we’re
going through.
Unfortunately, Jesus didn’t get much time to Himself in the
desolate place that He chose to mourn in; great crowds of people followed Him because
of His reputation, and verse 14 tells us that He had compassion on the crowds
and healed their sick. This is also pretty cool. For most of us who have lost
loved ones and are going through times of grief, we just want to be left by
ourselves!! I’m sure Jesus did too, it’s why He withdrew to a desolate place
after all. But what’s cool is that even in Jesus’ personal time of grief, He
has compassion for the hurting, broken people in the crowds, and he goes to
heal them. It’s weird to think that, while God is awesome, majestic, holy, and
full of glory, He is also humble and selfless. That is to say, humility and
selflessness are traits that find their root in the character of God. (Which is
what makes humility and selflessness godly traits!) Even though Jesus was
mourning, He cared about the sick and injured enough to freely give His time
and energy to them.
Jesus cares for us and will always show up in
relationship with us when we draw near to Him.
After healing the sick, the crowds become hungry and the
need is brought to Jesus. Instead of sending the crowds away to the towns,
Jesus tells the disciples to feed them. Dazed at the idea, they report back to Him
having only five loaves of bread and two fish. Hardly enough to feed the
masses! But Jesus takes the food, prays over it, and starts handing out food,
and handing out food…. Until 5,000 men plus a couple thousand women and
children were completely filled and satisfied! Crazy! The disciples also gather
an extra 12 baskets worth of leftovers, Yum! It’s pretty cool that Jesus was
able to miraculously do this with the food, but what’s even cooler is that
Jesus is able to meet our needs. When we come to Jesus in prayer presenting our
needs before Him, we can do so with confidence because not only does Jesus care
about us and our needs, but He also is able to meet the needs and do so
lavishly.
Jesus is able to meet our needs when we come to Him, and He
will do so lavishly.
After this awesome meal with the crowds, Jesus sends the
disciples ahead of him across the Sea of Galilee by boat. He dismisses the
crowds, and goes on a mountain by Himself to pray. It’s cool that, even though
Jesus was God, being human He lived from a human perspective. Jesus Himself
spent time in private prayer, and shows us by example that prayer is vital in
having relationship with God, and in receiving encouragement and strength from
Him. It’s obviously been a long day for Jesus! But after He prays, He comes
down from the mountain and starts walking across the sea of Galilee to meet the
disciples. You know, just the Creator of heaven and earth deciding to go on a leisurely
stroll across the water that He made… pretty cool! But by the time He reaches
the boat, a storm of waves and wind have put the disciples in a fearful frenzy
to manage the boat. When they see Him, they freak out thinking that He’s a
ghost! But Jesus calls to the men and calms them, maybe except for Peter. Peter
calls back to Jesus saying, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You
on the water.”[2]
Jesus tells Peter to come, leading to the next pretty cool scene where Peter
walks out on the water to Jesus, but looks away at the storm and starts to
sink.
They say that when you’re tight-roping or slack-lining, you
want to keep your balance by keeping your eyes set upon a fixed point. This is
because generally, you go where your eyes are. It’s also why they tell you to
look ahead while driving, because if you stare out the side window while
driving you will probably start drifting to the side. It’s the same thing with
life. We are able to have a powerful, 2-way relationship with Jesus today. Not
just a one-sided relationship where we talk and Jesus never shows up, but a real
relationship person to person. It’s a relationship that starts with faith and
will one day become face to face, but the relationship with God can thrive only
if we put Him as the center focus of our lives. There are evils in the world,
fears, pains, worries….. brokenness, and an abundance of causes for despair.
Satan wants to overwhelm us with these things to kill faith and hope. Peter naturally
was overwhelmed by the shocking fear of standing in the sea amidst turbulent
waves, which drew His gaze away from Jesus. Jesus saves Peter and immediately
calms the storm, which is cool, but cooler still is the fact that Jesus is able
to keep us steady amid the storms of life, and He has power over the greatest
of the things which cause us concern. Keeping ourselves focused on relationship
with Jesus as the most important thing in life above all else will bring
stability, safety, and comfort at the hands of our Creator. I’m not sure why
Peter wanted Jesus to call him out on the water, but I think that Peter knew
that the safest place He could possibly be in the midst of the storm was with
His Lord Jesus.
Fixing our eyes on Jesus, we can have stability, safety,
and comfort amidst the evils of life.
When they land in Gennesaret, there are yet more sick and
injured people seeking Jesus’ attention. Jesus takes the time to let all come
to Him for healing. It is sooo cool that our God who is Creator, Savior, and
Shepherd, has a heart for loving and healing us from our brokenness. This world
has it’s evils, and plenty of them. But they don’t seem so daunting when you
know the One who is seated on the throne and who loves you so. Not to mention the
knowledge that He is preparing a place for us to be with Him forever, where
there will be no more pain, and all our sorrows will be comforted. Jesus’ disciple
John later writes of the coming hope that we have in Jesus:
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘Behold,
the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will
be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe
away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall
there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have
passed away.’”[3]
Pretty cool.
