Jesus continues to move, to preach, to heal and even to feed another massive crowd.
Matthew 15:29-38, Mark 7:31-8:9a
Thoughts about serving others
This link includes a list of posts about Serving the Least, the Lost, and the Lonely.
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Let the Word evoke words. May your life encourage lives.
Mark’s Gospel records the details of healing a man who was deaf and could hardly talk. The details include Jesus physically touching the man’s tongue and putting his fingers in the man’s ears. It’s interesting how some miracles happen with just a word, yet others seem to require physical interaction.
People were amazed and the stories of Jesus continued to spread. Jesus knew where this was leading, there was no way to stop what was happening. His fame grew daily.
Matthew and Mark provide another large crowd being fed by Jesus through miraculous intervention. It seems that the only place to gather such large crowds was far away from any logistical support. I attended a concert a few weeks ago where there were reportedly 20,000 in attendance. This was an enormous crowd, but there were plenty of food vendors and porta-potties. No issues to wrestle with. I can’t imagine 4,000 men (plus women and children) scattered out on some remote stretch of land for three days just to listen to Jesus. No sound reinforcement system, no big screen projection or lights. And no porta-potties. Just sayin’.
For three days they had nothing to eat, so Jesus calls his disciples together again. This time, with seven loaves and a few small fish, Jesus feeds the crowd and they are able to gather more food than they started with.
These stories do much to confirm the miracles of Jesus and help us understand how the surge in Christianity was able to explode on the scene. Literally thousands of people witnessed Jesus’ work, but most did not understand the details. I imagine that if I were the farthest person in the crowd, I might not even be able to recognize his face, let alone the disciples. Having heard words and seen signs (or at least heard lots of people talking about it), I would know where to turn next. When Jesus sends the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in the near future, the people finally start to understand what had happened, the pieces begin to fall into place. These stories provide the necessary back-story and give us a multidimensional look at Jesus, the Christ, the Lord of all.