Do you remember this story? I read about it in a newspaper a couple of years ago.
One day a railroad station attendant saw a man walking on the railroad tracks. Over his shoulder was slung a large backpack. It seemed to contain all the utensils and clothing that he owned. As the man trudged wearily along, the station attendant stopped him and ordered him off the tracks. “You're trespassing,” the attendant shouted. “And you are going to get hit by a train.” The man pulled a train ticket from his pocket, good for a trip. In amazement the attendant looked at him and asked why he was walking along the tracks when he could be riding in the train. The man replied that he thought the ticket gave him only the privilege of walking the railroad line. After the purpose of a ticket was explained to him, the tired man happily boarded the next train coming through.
Amazing and amusing, isn't it? It's incredible that a man could think that way. But how many of us don't make a similar mistake in our lives of faith?
Our Lord wants to carry us; He wants to lift us up in His arms; He wants to bear our burdens and provide our needs. “Come to me,” He pleads, “all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” And again, “Cast all your cares on me, and I will care for you.” He wants us to climb aboard and let Him take us through. But ignorantly, oftentimes stubbornly we keep our burdens and insist on trudging along under our own power. Is it any wonder that we look so weary at times to those around us? Here we have the One who provides the means for a good journey, and we refuse to climb on board.
Christ is Our Great Provider . He is capable of handling every need. And more, He is willing to carry the burden. We must learn to trust Him more, daily, hourly, minute by minute.
In order that we might trust Him, He tests us and works with us to increase our faith so that we come to Him and are satisfied in His love. Of this we have evidence in our text this morning. So, under the gracious guidance of the Holy Spirit, let us learn to Come to Jesus, Our Great Provider. I. Because He has compassion on us; II. He meets our most pressing need; and III. We are satisfied.
I. He has compassion on us.
One more year remained for Jesus, just one more year before His suffering and death. During that time He would go out among the people to teach and to heal them. At the same time He would also withdraw from them more and more. He would go off by Himself to remote places to get away from it all. That's what happened here as our text began, “When Jesus had heard what had happened, He withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.”
What had happened was that John the Baptist had been killed. Then we are told that Herod reacted to reports about Jesus' work as He went through the area and concluded that Jesus must be a resurrected John the Baptist. So Jesus withdrew. He did not want to unnecessarily expose Himself to the danger that Herod might prove to be at this time. But it also seems that Jesus simply wanted to get away from the things that had taken place. No doubt He desired some quiet time for Himself and His disciples. He felt the need for rest and relaxation to revitalize Himself. So He withdrew at times, privately, to solitary places.
And He often withdrew with His disciples. When they were alone He had the chance to instruct them, to pray with them, to confer with them about the missionary journeys that He sent them on. After all, they were to carry on in His footsteps at His departure. For that they needed preparation. So, during this last year He often withdrew with them to help them grow in their faith.
But He had precious little time with them for the crowds always seemed to find out where he was going and followed close behind. That's what happened here. He went across the Sea of Galilee by boat; the crowd followed on foot, a walk of some eight miles or so, a distance that could be traveled in a day. And they did not come alone. They brought along a great number of sick people for Him to heal. The purpose behind His get-a-way time was thwarted. But it didn't matter for this is where Jesus would be – among His people, helping them in their need. With a tender heart He looked upon them with a compassion that put aside His own plans. Then He went to work to heal and teach them.
You see, dear friends, that's the kind of Savior you have, one with a tender heart, an eye of compassion that is looking out for all who come to Him, and He will not turn them away.
“Call upon me in the day of trouble,” He says, “I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” Here is our hope in sickness, our
comfort in sin, our help in every distress. Come to Jesus, The Great Provider. He has compassion on us.
II. He meets our most pressing need.
Time passed. Jesus spent the day healing, and more importantly, teaching about the Kingdom of God. Oh, how the people needed that, for their own teachers did not really feed them with the Word of God. Rather, they fed them with the empty husks of the doctrines of men, which could not save them. Jesus spoke to their greatest need – about the Kingdom of God.
How did He go about this? Most likely He went about it in the same way that He did on all other occasions. He told them that God's kingdom consists of contrite sinners who received God's forgiveness with the faith of little children. He convicted them of their sin – whatever it might be: adultery, greed, theft, abuse of God's name and Word – He convicted them all. And then He invited them, as He always did, to come to Him for the rest from sin that they needed. Only He can meet that need .
To one He might say, like He did to the man who was sick with the palsy, let down from the roof in a bed in front of him: “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven” (Mt.9:22). To another, like He did to the woman who had been subject to bleeding for over 12 years: “Take heart, daughter, your faith has healed you” (9:22). And to all He would admonish: “Seek first God's Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (6:33).
The Kingdom of God and entrance there, that is our most pressing need. And only Jesus can meet it . You will never meet it on your own, dear friend, for sin prevents you. But “the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from all sin.” He meets our most pressing need. And He does that first.
How wonderful it is to know that in His compassion He is always ready to take care of our sinful souls first. So Come to Him, The Great Provider , and He will meet the need of your soul. As the hymn writer wrote: Art thou weary, art thou troubled, Art thou sore distrest? “Come to Me,” saith One, “and coming, Be at rest.”
III. And We Will Be Satisfied.
Finally, finally comes the part of this day that everyone seems to know, the miraculous feeding of the crowd. It was the real attention grabber of the day.
Time had passed again. All day Jesus had taught and healed. It was getting late, and the question arose in the minds of the disciples, “How are we going to feed these people? We are so far away from any stores where they can buy some food.”
One of them, thinking ever practically in terms of money, as we humans are prone to do, counted what they had in the treasury. Simple arithmetic made it quite obvious that they couldn't begin to buy enough food for all, even if they had a store to go to. As they all wrestled with the problem, the disciples could only see one solution: “Send them away,” they told Jesus. That was their answer to a dilemma. “Send them away.”
How sad such an answer is, especially after considering Jesus' heart of compassion and His mouth of forgiving love that addressed the crowd's greatest needs. How do you send people away from what they need the most – a Savior? But the disciples didn't catch on for they were thinking too much along the lines of material things, as we all are prone to do. So Jesus gave them another opportunity to grow in faith.
He challenged them: “You give them something to eat.” Give them what you have. And what did they have? A boy with a lunch of 5 loaves of barley bread, and 2 small fish. “But how far will that go among so many?” they replied (Jn.6:9).
Five loaves and two small fish – not enough to solve the problem the disciples faced. Not enough, that is, if you reckon without God.
Not enough – how often haven't we thought the same. Not enough money, not enough food, not enough brains, not enough abilities to take care of the problem. That's the way we think all too often, even within the church. And we're right in a way; we don't have enough. But what we have outside of these things is more than the answer to whatever problem arises. We've got a Savior who has promised to meet all our needs, and who will satisfy us beyond whatever we could imagine. That's why He says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me” (Ps.50:15).
Not enough! Look what the Lord Jesus did with 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish. In His hands of blessing they multiplied and provided enough so that all were satisfied. And more, 12 baskets full of food were picked up after all had been taken care of. Isn't this miracle a testimony to what the Psalmist said when he wrote, “The eyes of all look to you, O Lord, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing” (145:15)?
What must have crossed the minds of the disciples and the whole crowd as the 12 carried these supplies among the people? In a sense they were carrying out what Jesus had challenged them to do when He said, “You feed them.” Suddenly they found out that they could do more than they ever thought they could. The crowd was satisfied , and they were satisfied too, in their service to God – not because of their great abilities or ingenuity or workings, but because Christ was at work. Christ the Savior was acting through them.
Do we ever forget who can help us and who alone will satisfy our needs –whatever they might be? The need for daily food, the need for daily forgiveness to our sin-filled lives, the need to carry on and do the work of the Lord here, the need to glorify our Savior – all of this and more lies not in our hands, but in the hands of Christ Jesus. He can do all. With Him nothing is impossible. And with the Great Provider in our lives “we can do everything through Him who gives us strength” (Phlp.4:13). When we let God work for us and through us, dear friends, no matter the situation that confronts us, more can be accomplished than we could ever hope or dream, and we will be satisfied . Christ's ability answers the question to all man's problems – temporal and eternal.
So Come to Him, dear friend, and climb on board. Have Him carry you now and always until in faith you reach your home above. God grant it to us all for Jesus' sake. Amen.