Jesus isn’t responsible for your problems, but he wants to be a part of the solution. He is appealing to you to help others and do the same. Who knows – you and the ones you serve can become part of a life-changing miracle!
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a great lesson from Matthew 14.
Thanks for taking time to join me today for Joni Eareckson Tada Sharing Hope, where I love encouraging you with insights from the Word of God. And this one especially struck a chord. Let me read Matthew 14:15-16 where it says, “As evening approached, the disciples came to [Jesus] and said, ‘This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.’ But Jesus replied, ‘They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.’”
Now just picture that scene. A large crowd of people had come all the way out to the countryside to hear Jesus preach, but they didn't think to bring a bag lunch. They had no idea that his sermon would take most of the day, but hey, it was interesting; their hearts were stirred, nobody was leaving. But now, the hour was late and the crowd just sat there with their tummies growling. They hadn’t eaten all day. The disciples could see what was going on; they wanted Jesus to send the crowds away, like to the nearby villages where they could buy themselves some food. They probably thought, “Where were these people's heads when they left home this morning? Didn't they know they'd get hungry? Didn’t they think to prepare, to bring something to eat?”
Now, I can identify with the disciples, and maybe you can too. Like, "Send them away, Lord. They got themselves into this mess. And they can get themselves out of it! Sure, they're hungry, but that’s not our problem. If they're hungry, it serves them right; they made their own bed, now let them lie in it – it'll teach them a lesson!"
Have you ever thought that? We reason that if people got themselves into a jam, they should get themselves out of it. Like the mother who has five children and three of them are developmentally disabled because of her own addictions, or the guy who broke his neck from driving drunk, or the family who lost their home because dad gambled the money away, or the overweight woman who lost both her legs because she refused to control her diabetes, or the teenager who thought he knew better than his football coach and ended up paralyzed. They all should have known better. They got themselves into their messes, they can get themselves out of it. It’s not our problem.
Well, Jesus is not so quick to let people hang themselves when they make poor choices. And Matthew 14 is such a great example of that, and we can learn a lesson from the Lord's response. The Bible says that when Jesus saw these people, his heart went out to them. To be sure, he wasn’t responsible for their problem, but that didn’t matter – he wanted to be part of the solution. And you know the story from there. Jesus appealed to the disciples out of his own compassion for the hungry crowds. And as a result, 5,000 people became part of a miracle that not only changed their lives, but the lives of the disciples who rolled up their sleeves and got involved.
Yep, the 5,000 should have known better. Nevertheless, the heart of Jesus went out to these people. In the same way, there are folks in your community who "should have known better," but now they are in sad straits. Well, Jesus has compassion for them, and he is appealing to you to help them. It’s my prayer that you will, it could be a life-changing miracle for those you serve and for you. One more thing, and just know that I love sharing this sort of hope with you every single day. So, please join me next time right here for more inspiration and even more hope. And by the way if you’d like to share this program on your Facebook page just click the “share” button at joniradio.org. Spread the word and the hope! This is Joni Eareckson Tada and I’ll see you next time because I love sharing hope.
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