A COMPASSIONATE GOD


After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” The disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?” Jesus asked them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.

I know that every now and then, especially in the midst of great struggles, we feel that God doesn’t care. If you are feeling like that now today’s reflection is for you. We see Jesus cares for our needs. He has compassion for our spiritual needs, which are eternal in their consequences. This is why he preached to them as he did to the thousands in this story. He also had compassion for our physical needs, which are lifelong in their consequences. This is why he healed everybody who was sick. And he even cares about our need for sustenance, which is why after preaching and ministering to the crowds, he thought of feeding them.

There are quite a few lessons to be learned from what happens here so let us reflect upon it. He calls his disciples to him and says, I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” Why is he telling them this? He obviously does not need their advice so his reasons had to be something else. What? Could it be that he wanted to see if they would tell him that he could feed them miraculously, just like he was curing them miraculously? 

But they said, “How? There isn’t enough bread to feed so many.” One can almost sense Jesus’ disappointment. After all the time they had spent with Jesus and all the miracles they had seen him work, including feeding people miraculously on another occasion, they were still thinking “naturally” not “supernaturally”. But Jesus tries again. “So how much bread DO you have?”, he asks. “Just seven loaves,” they say, “and a few fish.” One imagines him waiting for a moment, hoping they will remember how he had multiplied bread and fish not too long before, but they don’t. So he sighs and works his miracle again.

What do we learn from this? We learn that we shouldn’t forget the thing that God does for us, because as long as we keep forgetting, we will never grow in faith. God is present in our lives ALL the time, especially during our struggles. Unfortunately, we don’t seem to realize this, which is why we begin to despair and doubt, and our faith weakens. So, going forward, let us remember that God is with us, and that there is nothing that he cannot do! And he cares enough to do it.

Watch a video of this reflection by Aneel Aranha here :   https://youtu.be/40N8hMO2N7Q





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