“HE HAD COMPASSION ON THEM!”

The fourteenth chapter of Matthew tells the story of Jesus feeding five thousand men and their families. The next chapter records Jesus feeding four thousand. Likewise, Mark’s Gospel reports the feeding of the five thousand in chapter six and the feeding of the four thousand in chapter eight.

Both events prove God’s power to provide for our needs, and both seem to prefigure the great banquet that will occur in Heaven at the end of the ages. But obviously, the two miracles are separate, although similar events.

The first miracle occurred by the Sea of Galilee, and the recipients of Jesus’ miraculous grace were primarily Jewish. The feeding of the four thousand happened in the Decapolis, a region southeast of Galilee and populated by Gentiles. Jesus demonstrated His great grace to both Jews and Gentiles! Hallelujah!

Before Jesus fed the five thousand Jews, He “had compassion on them, and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14). They were hungry. Weary. Many were sick… and Jesus was moved by His great love. He demonstrated “compassion.”

In the Decapolis, when He looked out over the crowd of Gentiles, he told His disciples, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, and some of them have come a long distance” (Mark 8:2–3).

In the Old Testament, God was “gracious and compassionate” (Nehemiah 9:31). Likewise, in the New Testament, “the Lord is compassionate and merciful!” (James 5:11). Jesus’ kind and caring heart hasn’t changed. “No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so…”

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).