December 4, 2013

Read It:
At that time:
Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee,
went up on the mountain, and sat down there.
Great crowds came to him,
having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute,
and many others.
They placed them at his feet, and he cured them.
The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking,
the deformed made whole,
the lame walking,
and the blind able to see,
and they glorified the God of Israel.

Jesus summoned his disciples and said,
“My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,
for they have been with me now for three days
and have nothing to eat.
I do not want to send them away hungry,
for fear they may collapse on the way.”
The disciples said to him,
“Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place
to satisfy such a crowd?”
Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”
“Seven,” they replied, “and a few fish.”
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.
Then he took the seven loaves and the fish,
gave thanks, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied.
They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full.

Reflect on It:

What I love about this passage is that Jesus meets the needs of those around him. He sees that they have been there for a long time and are hungry and he wants to make sure that they are fed. That's who Jesus is...he meets the needs of those right in front of him. I love it! Then, he asks the disciples to go get the food that they have and it's multiplied. God is so good. I think that in this, I see that the Lord of the universe always provides...he saw how important it was to feed them before they went any further. I think some times, we ask the Lord for such lofty things, and truly, he sees that what we need first is to be fed. Today, let's be men and women who can trust that the Lord will feed us.

Pray about It: Lord, help me to see that you will always feed me when I'm most in need. Jesus, I trust in you. Amen.

Live It! Challenge: Today, meet the needs of someone at school or work.