Meaghan's Blog...

I just read something in Meaghan's last post that started the wheels turning in my head. She was commenting about her thoughts from the book she is reading and how the holy spirit is stirring a passion within her for justice, truth, and love. She was talking about starting a breakfast club in San Francisco and targeting unreached areas. You can read her post here: http://citilove.blogspot.com/2006/04/tuesday.html
I am not sure if I have posted about this scripture before (its possible because I love it so much), but as I read her post it immediately brought my mind to Matthew, chapter 9...the feeding of the five thousand... this might be one of my favorite chapters in the Gospel, because every time I read it I am so moved by the heart of Christ.

Starting in verse 10, Jesus finds out that John, his cousin, friend, the man who baptized him, had been beheaded. He was probably emotionally, physically, and spiritually exaughstead...in Luke the same account talks about how the disciples had just been running non-stop healing people and preaching the gospel. They were tired and they were mourning so Jesus goes to a deserted place to get away, to be alone with his heavenly Father...but the multitudes followed him.

His response in verse 14 is so selfless and makes me fall deeper in love with him every time I read it, "and when he saw a great multitude, he was moved with compassion."

I think that is a place where Christ wants all of us to come...where we can open our eyes, wherever we are, and see the great multitude. His flesh was weak and tired, but his spiritual eyes were still so in tune to the heart of His father and when he looked, he saw thousands and thousands of people who "were like a sheep without a shepherd"...lost. (mark 6:34)

Then...when Jesus sees they are hungry, tells the disciples, "Don't send them away...You give them something to eat..." It is so interesting to me that Jesus didn't just perform the miracle, but he gave the disciples the command first...he wanted them to be the vessels that met the need. He could have easily just performed a miracle and feed the multitude, but I think he wanted to give the disciples the opportunity to do it first. 2000 years later, Jesus is saying the same thing to us..."Don't send them away, you give them something to eat."

Meaghan is living in San Francisco...and she is right, there are probably more food ministries there then anywhere else in the country, but there is still a deep need that is not being met. Are we going to continue to plop some food on these hurting, broken peoples plates and send them away? Or are we going to really give them something to eat...something that once they taste, they will never hunger or thirst again? Justice comes in meeting the physical need out of a deep compassion for their soul...a compassion that produces and action to see those sheep find their shepherd.