It was one of those mornings for Mrs. Smith.  First of all her husband came rushing downstairs frantically trying to find his blue dress shirt and matching tie.  Apparently he had an important business meeting that morning, and that was the only shirt and tie that he could wear that day.

            Then, Sally, her 6^th grade daughter casually mentioned that she had volunteered her mom to bake 4 dozen cookies for the school play that night.  She had “forgotten” about it until that morning, but she figured that her mom would have plenty of time to get them done by 2:00 that afternoon.

            Finally, Mikey, her 5 year old came down with huge chunks of his hair missing.  He had found a scissors on the bathroom counter and had decided to give himself a haircut.  Mrs. Smith patched it up as well as she could and sent him on his way.  The day was only ½ hour old, and already she was ready to collapse.

            Have you had any of those days lately?  You finally just want to throw up your hands and ask, “How am I suppose to do all of this?”  Imagine how you would have felt if you were Jesus on that day on the shore of the Sea of Galilee as he looked out at the 10,000-12,000 hungry people who had followed him.  Our text for today shows us how he reacted, trusting in his heavenly Father to meet their needs.  We’ll see today that all who put their trust in the Lord will always be able to face life’s challenges.  We’ll learn from these words today that we can–

                                   “Rely on the Great Provider”

                                       I.  He Knows Our Needs

                                    II.  He Provides the Solutions

The people in our text were in a bit of an unusual situation.  Matthew tells us that Jesus had gone across the Sea of Galilee by boat to a “A solitary place.”  John the Baptist had just been murdered by King Herod, and Jesus’ disciples had just returned from an evangelism outing and were excited to tell Jesus what had happened.  Jesus went across the lake to rest and talk to his disciples.

But by this time, Jesus was well-known throughout Israel.  Word got out that Jesus had crossed the lake, and a large crowd quickly followed.  By the time Jesus landed, the people had already arrived.  Matthew says, ”When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”

As we know, that is only the beginning of the story.  Dinner time came and went and the people, who had been out all day, had had nothing to eat.  Matthew wrote, “As evening approached, the disciples came to him 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.”

Although Jesus had come to this place to take care of his own needs, he never forgot about the needs of the people.  And when he saw the people, he put aside his own needs and concentrated on helping them.  And we shouldn’t find that unusual.  Jesus’ own family once tried to drag him away from the people, fearing that he wasn’t getting enough rest for himself.

But I’m sure you know how difficult it is to leave someone who needs help.  It’s hard to watch someone who is suffering or trying to do something.  You naturally want to go and help them.  But sometimes you aren’t able to and it makes you feel bad.  When I was young and my family would go on a trip, I remember my dad pulling over to help others who were having car trouble.  But today, you don’t know if it’s safe, and you may have to drive past without stopping to help.  I’ve done that quite a few times and always kind of wonder whether I should have stopped or not.

Our text says that when Jesus saw the people “…he had compassion on them.”  This story is recorded by all four gospel writers, and Mark says that Jesus thought of these people as “sheep without a shepherd.” (Mk. 6:34) Jesus knew that many of these people were only here to have him help them with their earthly problems.  They brought their sick friends and relatives to Jesus, and he healed them.  But Jesus also saw the spiritual needs of these people, and he used this opportunity to reach out to their souls too.

When Jesus sees people, he sees more than what we see.  He is omniscient, all knowing.  He sees beyond the brave fronts that we put up to the insecurities that we have.  He sees past the smiles we force to the hurt and pain beneath.  He knows better than we do what dangers we face and what troubles lie ahead.  And Jesus knows that these dangers and trouble threaten more than just our bodies.  He sees the dangers and troubles that threaten our souls every minute of every day.

On the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus looked out at the 10-12,000 people who had come to see him.  He saw their needs, and, we are told, he met their needs.

                                    II.  He Provides the Solution

As the sun began to set, Jesus called his disciples together to see what they thought about feeding the people.  The disciples suggested that Jesus just send them home so they could find their own food.  But Jesus had a different plan.  He said, ”They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat.”  The disciples didn’t think that was possible since they had found only 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish among the people.  What could so little do among so many?

Jesus said to his disciples, “Bring them here to me.”  He directed the people to sit down, and, after saying a prayer to thank God for the food that he had, he “gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.”  Matthew then reports that “They all ate and were satisfied…”  In fact, the verb used to describe the people eating is the verb that is used to describe how a cow is fattened, almost force-fed, before it is butchered.  It implies that everyone had more than enough to eat, with leftovers that filled twelve baskets.

This story is so familiar to most of us that we might overlook its message.  Think about the details of what took place that day.  10-12,000 people sat down and had dinner on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.  Imagine trying to feed that many people in a restaurant or cafeteria!  And when everyone had eaten what they wanted, more food was left than what they had started with!  Now add to that the fact that Jesus had healed those who had been brought to him who were sick!

We might find ourselves in situations where we don’t know exactly what to do.  We might not have all the answers to the questions that we have in our lives.  Maybe we’ve been struggling with something for a long time and haven’t been able to find an acceptable solution.  The disciples put their heads together to try to figure out how to feed the people, and they came up empty.  They stood before Jesus with a blank stare on their faces.

But Jesus has the solutions.  He had the solution on that day at the Sea of Galilee, and he has the solutions to our problems.  He has said through his Word, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you.” (Ps. 50:15) King David wrote with confidence, “Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord will hear when I call to him.” (Ps. 4:1) What needless worry we endure and problems we bear because we forget the invitation of our Lord!

Each one of us can listen to this story and hear our Savior talking to us.  He who sees each sparrow that falls from the sky sees each of us just as clearly.  He who provides food and shelter for the little animals of the forest has shown us that we are much more important than they are.  He came down from heaven and offered his own life to save us.  He took away our sins and secured eternal life in heaven for us.  And he has promised to give “all these things as well” to those who “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.” (Mt. 6:33)

And listen to the prayer of Paul for the Christians in Ephesus: “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Eph. 3:17-19)  The power and love and mercy and grace of our Savior stretch far beyond our understanding.  He knows our problems and he has the solutions.  Let this familiar story encourage you to rely more confidently on the Lord.  In his name.  Amen.

“The peace of God…”