Daily Devotion, February 19, 2020

Devotion:

Read Matthew 14:13-21.

Matthew 26:26 says “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’”

I wonder if in hearing these words of Jesus, during the Last Supper, if the disciples remembered their experience with the great crowd. I wonder when Jesus took, blessed, broke and gave the loaves to them if the disciples remembered previously receiving bread from Him. I wonder if the disciples remembered giving bread to all the people with plenty left over.

Matthew 14 records great learning experiences for the disciples. The disciples saw a deserted place, a great crowd of tired and hungry people and only one solution. They had rightly decided that five loaves and two fish would never feed all the people. Their solution was for the people to go into the village and buy food for themselves.

But Jesus saw the crowd of people totally differently. First, He had compassion for them and cured their sick. Secondly, He understood God’s work in a different way. Little is much in God’s hands. After blessing and breaking of the bread, Jesus gave it to the disciples for them to go and feed the people.

Many people who have helped to feed others have also experienced God’s work of blessing, breaking, giving and having plenty left over. There is a holy mystery to this experience.

These experiences with Jesus have lessons for us, too. We can pray to see the possibilities of what we can do to help others through Jesus’ compassionate eyes. We can ask ourselves what gifts and talents we have which can be blessed, broken and given to help others. We can remember God’s gifts are enough and plenty more, such that we can give and there will still be plenty left over.

Personal Worship Option:

Blessed, broken and given to give. Jesus demonstrated this by giving his own life so that we are given new life. Dear Lord, how can I see the world through your compassionate eyes and be willing to give as you have given to me? Amen.