JESUS FEEDS THE FOUR THOUSAND

Matthew 15:29-39
Key Verse: 15:32

   "Jesus called his disciples to him and said,  I have compassion
    for these people; they have already been with me three days and
    have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or
    they may collapse on the way.'"

   In the last passage we learned from Jesus that the traditional Jews'
hypocrisy was wrong, and that rituals and ceremonies cannot make man
clean. They used the words "clean" and "unclean" in order to
distinguish between ceremonially clean people and ceremonially unclean
people.  Through this, the traditional old Jews made use of rituals and
ceremonies, demanding people to keep them, so that they might be the
ruling class. And those who received ceremonial cleansing had to pay
the cost of these rituals and ceremonies. Jesus defined them as
"hypocrites." A hypocrite is one who has the form of godliness, but
whose heart is evil in the sight of God. The traditional Jews cheated
their consciences and became hypocrites whose hearts were evil. Jesus
told his disciples that not washing their hands wouldn't make them
unclean. Jesus also told them that if their hearts were right with God,
they would be clean. Jesus had a hard time to defend his disciples who
didn't wash their hands before eating.

   Then Jesus met a Gentile woman whose daughter was suffering from
demon-possession. Jesus tested her faith, speaking as if she were a
Gentile dog who did not deserve Jesus' mercy. She did not retreat from
Jesus' humiliation, but said, "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall
from their masters' table" (27). Jesus was abundantly happy and praised
the woman, saying, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is
granted" (28). Jesus was bitterly criticized by the traditional Jews,
who came from Jerusalem to Galilee to give him a hard time. So Jesus
was greatly burdened. But through the Gentile woman's faith he was
abundantly comforted. To Jesus, there were thousands of enemies against
him, but one Gentile woman's faith was enough to restore his
constrained soul. When we study the Bible, we see that Jesus was always
happy with one person's faith. In today's passage we learn Jesus'
compassion again. Jesus also trains his disciples to have God's
compassion.  First, Jesus welcomes four thousand sick people (29-31).
As we studied in chapter 14, Jesus fed five thousand people, not
counting women and children.  They were shameless people. In John's
Gospel chapter 6, Jesus fed five thousand people with five loaves and
two fish. Then they wanted to make Jesus their king of bread so that
they might eat bread without working hard.  Jesus fed these five
thousand people in order to teach them the meaning of spiritual bread.
Jesus taught them that he is the bread of life; whoever drinks his
blood and eats his flesh will live (Jn 6:35,54). But they were not
happy because Jesus did not give them delicious bread; instead, he
talked only about spiritual bread. They began to run away ten by ten,
one hundred by one hundred. Finally, only Peter and the other disciples
were left. So Jesus asked Peter, "You do not want to leave too, do
you?" (Jn 6:67) Jesus was greatly discouraged by people's rejection of
the word of God concerning spiritual bread. So when the four thousand
came, Jesus could have said, "You are no good. Go to the Salvation
Army. They supply food for the poor." But he did not. Jesus welcomed
this crowd and healed their sick and fed them.

   Jesus welcomed them and was ready to help them with whatever they
needed. Look at verse 30. "Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame,
the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his
feet; and he healed them." Some were a group of lame. These people
could not walk properly. There might have been around ten such persons.
Jesus healed the lame and they could walk. Legs are the foundation of
one's body. In boxing, hand motions and being beaten to some degree do
not matter, but when one's legs wobble it is sure that he will lose.
The lame can never go to the Olympics as track runners. What is worse,
their list of marriage candidates is very short.  Their employment
opportunities are severely restricted. It is especially hard for men to
be lame; they may be regarded not as men but as the crippled, because
they are powerless. But Jesus healed all the lame who came to him and
made them whole.

   There were a group of blind people. Blind people are most pathetic
as human beings. They cannot see their lovely mother, even though they
feel their mothers' unlimited love. Their blind eyes are nothing but
two holes for the purpose of crying endlessly. The blind are apt to
misunderstand everything because they do not see and only hear sounds.
They may think that everybody is laughing at them and pointing fingers
at them, saying, "He is cursed by God, so he is blind." But Jesus
opened their eyes. Then they could see the beautiful world God has
made. They could see their mothers' faces and the beautiful colors of
nature. If they married, they could see their wives' faces. How
beautiful is Jesus' compassion!

   There were also many mutes. These mutes are also human beings. If
they went to Italy for sight-seeing, they would see Napolis. They would
want to sing many beautiful Italian folk songs, such as "Santa Lucia."
But they cannot sing and so lose all the joy of sight-seeing. A mute
wants to say, "I love you" to a girl. But his voice is not heard by
her. For human beings, romance is the beginning of one's personal
history. So the mute can not have a personal history. He feels, but he
cannot express. People criticize him, but he cannot defend himself. Our
Lord Jesus Christ healed the mute people altogether, all at once. They
began to sing, "Thank you Jesus. Now I can speak. I can express my
feelings to a beautiful girl,  I love you.'" Matthew said in verse 30,
"...the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others...."
The words "many others" may have included men with leprosy. The first
sign of leprosy is that one's eyebrows are all gone. Next, one's
fingers fall off and are buried in the dirt. Lepers cannot mingle with
ordinary people because they are too ugly. There is a poem, "It is
raining. I'm standing outside the bar. But I cannot go in. I want a mug
of beer like the people inside. But because I am a man with leprosy, I
have to stand outside in the heavy rain." Jesus cleansed their leprosy
and sorrow all at once and made them whole. Jesus' healing hand was
indeed amazing.

   The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled
made well, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the
God of Israel (31). Here, the last words, "the God of Israel," have a
historical meaning. In the Old Testament, the God of Israel, that is,
the Messiah of the world, is promised and prophesied. His coming was
fulfilled by Jesus. In the New Testament time, after Jesus' ascension,
the disciples of Jesus and the new Christians hoped to see Jesus'
Second Coming to this world as the Messiah of the world. When they were
severely persecuted by the Jewish leaders and the Roman Empire, they
yearned for the Messiah's coming all the more. When they were eaten by
lions and pierced to death in the arenas of the Roman Empire, they
hoped the Messiah would come.  Always, the Messiah's coming to rescue
them was in the hearts of sincere Christians. But these days
"Hallelujah Christians" commercialize the Second Coming of Jesus and
make a lot of money from weak-minded people.  Anyway, at the time when
Jesus healed the crippled, ordinary people learned that Jesus was the
God of Israel, the Messiah. Look at verse 31. It says, "The people were
amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the
lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel."

Second, Jesus said, "I have compassion for these people" (32). Look at
verse 32a. "Jesus called his disciples to him and said,  I have
compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days
and have nothing to eat.'" Jesus engaged in a three-day healing
ministry, and probably in a preaching ministry, too. He must have been
tired. But he did not say, "Scatter these people because they are
healed." Rather, Jesus sternly told his disciples, "I have compassion
for these people; they have already been with me three days and have
nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may
collapse on the way.'" Jesus' compassion was like that of a mother
toward her young kids. Jesus' feeling was that his young kids had been
sick for several days and didn't eat; so he wanted to feed them as soon
as possible. That was Jesus' feeling toward this crowd. Here we see
Jesus' compassion. They were shameless people. They were crippled
people, so they were not so pretty to look at. But Jesus had compassion
on this crowd.  Jesus healed them all; now he wants to feed them all.
Jesus had been with them for three days, and they were not eating at
all. It was indeed a glorious scene. All the crippled people were
healed and became well. But they didn't leave. They watched Jesus'
healing again and again. They were so amazed.  So they forgot to eat
for three days. Here we learn that messianic compassion makes us forget
about hungry feelings. Rather, messianic compassion gives one deep
amazement and awe. We are children of God. So what we have to do is
learn the compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we do not learn the
compassion of Jesus, we cannot say that we are children of God,
sanctified by the truth. We must grow in the compassion of Jesus
throughout our pilgrim journey in this world.

   But some people do not know about the compassion of Jesus. There was
one couple. The husband gave sufficient money to his wife and treated
her like a queen at the dinner table before guests. But since her
family background was poor, whenever they were alone together, he
despised his wife. He beat her and gave her black eyes and a black jaw.
At last, she died of "husband phobia." Finally the husband became a
first-class mental patient and a violent man. So he was confined behind
bars. If we don't grow in the holiness of God, and if we don't grow in
the compassion of Jesus, we remain as children forever. So when
immature men who are like grammar school students get married, they do
not know how to love their wives. Rather, they want breast feeding from
their wives. On the other hand, wives instinctively want to be loved by
their husbands. Women are women when they want to be loved. When women
are loved by their husbands, they can be good mothers to their
children. If the women of any nation are not loved by their husbands,
that nation can decline to destruction. We can see the examples of
Sodom and Gomorrah, the Roman Empire, and so on.

Third, Jesus' disciples' cooperation (33-39). When Jesus said, "I have
compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days
and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or
they may collapse on the way,'" his disciples answered, "Where could we
get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?" (33) After
three days of hanging around Jesus among many crippled people, Jesus'
disciples were extremely tired. But this time his disciples did not
say, "Send them away, so that they may provide food for themselves."
Instead, they showed a sign that they learned Jesus' compassion to some
degree.

   "How many loaves do you have?' Jesus asked.  Seven,' they replied,
 and a few small fish'" (34). Then Jesus told the crowd to sit down on
 the ground. He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks.
 Jesus thanked God. Jesus also asked God's blessing upon the seven
 loaves and the few small fish in order to help out the crowd of four
 thousand people. The fish might have been dried up minnows, almost
 rotten because they were kept too long in a person's pocket. But Jesus
 prayed to bless this small amount of food, and with it, to feed four
 thousand people so that they could be strengthened and go back home.

   What did Jesus do next? Look at verse 36. "Then he took the seven
loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and
gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people." In this
verse we learn that his disciples joined in the messianic ministry by
distributing bread and fish to the people who were sitting there. Jesus
might have said, "Peter, you distribute food to people on this side."
Peter might have answered, "Aye, aye, sir! I will do my best to
distribute food to the hungry people faster than anybody else." Jesus
might have asked lazy Matthew to distribute food.  Matthew might have
said, "Aye, aye, sir! I will do my best to distribute food to the
hungry people. But can I eat first, and next distribute food to the
people?" Jesus didn't say anything. Jesus might have asked Andrew to
distribute food to the crowd of people. Andrew might have said, "Sir, I
have already distributed it and I am eating my portion." Andrew was
usually slow, but in doing something in an urgent situation, he was
very quick.

   The disciples learned the compassion of Jesus. This is the reason
they did not complain about doing such a demanding job, but responded
to their master Jesus, saying, "Aye, aye, sir! I will do my best to
feed the hungry crowd of people." The disciples were very ordinary
people. They did not know the word "divine discipline." But living
common life with Jesus, they learned the compassion of Jesus, and they
were pretty much used to thinking about others, even a really shameless
crowd of people.

   We also must learn the compassion of Jesus. We have many kinds of
meetings in UBF. Sometimes we feel we have too many meetings. To attend
a meeting is better than mingling with those who drink a lot. But when
we meet in the name of Jesus, we must learn the compassion of Jesus and
grow in the compassion of Jesus. We must also grow in our faith that we
can feed first, five thousand people, and next, another four thousand
people. Without this compassion, Christian life makes us miserable like
the hypocritical orthodox Jews. It is good for them to know how to take
care of their bushy beards, but without the compassion of Jesus, they
did not know human happiness at all. Where does human happiness come
from? It comes from Jesus' compassion. There is one young man who has
the compassion of Jesus. So he loves his wife and obeys his wife
absolutely. As a result, the family is always happy and the children
are growing very happily. He is not recognized by his children as the
head of the family; his wife is the head of the family. Still, he is
very happy. When the compassion of Jesus rules and overrules this
country, there will be no broken families or uncontested divorces,
which break children's hearts. When we children of God learn the
compassion of Jesus, we can see the kingdom of God and enter the
kingdom of God when the appointed time comes. May God richly bless you
to learn the compassion of Jesus like his disciples, by hanging around
Jesus.



STUDY QUESTIONS

1. Read verses 29-31. When Jesus left the region of Tyre and Sidon,
   where did he go? Describe the crowds who came to him.

2. Think about the situation of the blind, of the crippled, of the
   mute, and how Jesus changed the situation of each? Who might "many
   others" include?

3. Why were the people amazed? Why did they praise the God of Israel?

4. Read verse 32-33. What do Jesus words to his disciples reveal about
   him? Why wasn't it enough to heal them and send them away? What does
   this show about the love ofGod? What does the disciples' response
   show about their growth?

5. Read verses 34-39. What did the disciples have? How did Jesus
   co-work with them to feed the crowd? What did Jesus do? What did the
   disciples do? How many were there? What did Jesus do after he
   finished?