8:1-3
Here we have the second feeding miracle. If “during those days” is taken to mean the time Jesus spent in the Decapolis, then this second feeding miracle occurred in a largely Gentile region. As per usual, a large crowd had gathered. Jesus had compassion on the crowd, and this was for very practical grounds. They had been with Jesus for three days, with no additional food. So there was a danger that some would collapse on the way home. A couple of points to note. One is that they must have been captivated by Jesus. Matthew tells us that Jesus healed many people. Given His usual practice, Jesus almost certainly taught many of them as well. Secondly, Jesus is concerned for the practical necessities of life. God’s attitude towards our practical requirements is not that they don’t matter, but that we have a right order of priorities (Matt 6:25-34).
8:4
The disciples don’t think that there is anything much that can be done. One might think that after the feeding of the five thousand they would have learnt that Jesus can supply food, but the later incident (8:17-19) shows that they had not learnt much. Alternatively, they may have been afraid to ask Jesus to do another feeding miracle.
No comments:
Post a Comment