Selfless

Matt 14:13: When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. (NIV).

I've been reading the book of Matthew lately and I've come to this familiar portion of the Bible that I bet we all have heard before. Jesus fed 5,000 people with just five loaves and two fish. But for some reason, verse 13 really stuck out at me, especially because of the beginning. Why did Jesus withdraw himself to be alone? If you get a chance to read the chapter, you can see that the verses before this whole miracle occurs is the story of how John the Baptist was killed. In case you don't know, that was Jesus' cousin.

Now think about this for a second. You just hear the news about a tragedy in your family. Not just any family member, but a very close friend. What do you do? How would you react? Often times in our lives, we deal with problems, heartache, frustration, and sadness in so many different ways. Jesus Himself just wanted to go away and be by Himself as we read in the verse. The crowds on the other hand, didn't really cooperate with this plan; so they followed him anyways.

Put yourself in Jesus' shoes at that moment. All you want to do is be alone, but thousands of people still crowd around you, not leaving you alone for one second, bringing their problems, frustrations, and burdens to your feet almost without any regard to what you are personally going through. Doing youth ministry for about 5 years now, that would drive me nuts. Not that I am some big expert on helping others, but I try to be there for my friends whenever they need me. But if I was going through a low point in my life, I would find it EXTREMELY hard to forget about my current circumstances and just focus on others. We are human after all.

But look at how the heart of Jesus is so different from ours. He was moved with compassion so much that when His people would come to Him, He couldn't even stand to send them off without eating. He didn't think about Himself but took the time to heal the sick who came to Him. Even in the time of despair, He still showed compassion, mercy, and love to 5,000 people.

At a time where most of the world is celebrating Easter weekend, and this might be the only time you might see some friends, family, and coworkers actually attend church, this story symbolizes what Jesus was sent to Earth to do. Having a selfless attitude, He constantly gave Himself for others, never once thinking about His own benefit. By being an example for us and showing us that even in the times of trouble and despair, compassion and love should overcome everything. To me, that is the biggest miracle of all.

God bless,

Jobbin