Matt.15:30,31 – Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them. So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.
Matt.14:32 – Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
Today is our annual Feed the Multitudes at Victory Church. If you don’t know, this is something we have done for many years on the Fourth of July. It is a giant free food festival put on for the needy in our city. Of course there will be bar-b-cue chicken, jambalaya, red beans and rice, watermelons, and snow balls. There will also be a mountain of deserts and an assortment of drinks all for free. There is the music tent, hair cuts, shoe give away and water and stuff for the kids and even an air conditioned area for the older folks or the disabled where they can enjoy all of the fare. But what is FTM really all about? The whole point is the love of God being put on display. Jesus always ministered to crowds of people and at least twice He fed thousands of people. Why did Jesus do what He did? Why did He heal the sick and why did He feed the crowds? We find the answer in the passage today, He felt compassion for the people.
Of course we know Jesus lived His whole life motivated by God’s love for us, after all that’s why He became a man and came to be among us. But there was something more here. Jesus saw the hurting people and it touched Him. He saw the suffering of the blind just trying to survive. He saw the handicapped totally dependent on others for their livelihood. He was touched by those living in a silent world not able to hear or speak to others. He also saw the hungry. The Lord was moved with compassion and He had to act. That is what Feed the Multitudes is, we see hurting people and we have to act. Maybe you will get it today if you haven’t already, come help us today and you can enter into a whole new world of love.
