Jesus' Compassion: Lessons from the Feeding of the Four Thousand

In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him and said to them, “I have compassion of the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar.” [00:00:28]

So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and they set them before the multitude. They also had a few small fish; and having blessed them, He said to set them also before them. So they ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets of leftover fragments. [00:01:13]

Then the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, testing Him. But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Assuredly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation. And He left them, and getting into the boat again, departed to other side. [00:02:01]

He charged them saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have no bread.” But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? [00:02:36]

Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up? They said to Him, “Twelve.” [00:02:56]

The Bible talks about His patience. It talks about His forbearance. It talks about His longsuffering. And do we see that so many times in sacred Scripture of the patience of God, the forbearance of His mercy, that we sometimes begin to believe that God’s patience is infinite? Have you thought that? That’s an extremely dangerous conclusion to come to. [00:15:28]

There is a limit to God’s patience, beloved. He may forbear with you week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade until we become at ease in Zion, and think, “Well, He’s always going to forbear with us.” But there are times in the Bible where God ends His patience, and He gives people over to their sin. [00:15:58]

Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. I’m sure you’ve all seen farmhouses where on the gate there’s a sign that says, “Beware of vicious dog.” Or you remember Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar where the soothsayer cries in the street, saying to Caesar, “Caesar, beware the Ides of March.” [00:18:04]

What’s the leaven of the Pharisees? Elsewhere in the New Testament, the Pharisees’ leaven is described in terms as, “the leaven of their teaching” and “the leaven of their hypocrisy.” Jesus is saying, “Watch out for false doctrine. Watch out for hypocrisy and teaching that can poison you.” [00:19:11]

Understand, dear friends, that by nature we are deaf to the things of God, blind to the things of God. Our hearts are recalcitrant. They’ve been calcified. They’ve been reified. That’s the way we are by nature, hearts that are hearts of stone that have no pulse beat for the things of God, so that the Word of God bounces off our hearts just as something might bounce off of a rock. [00:21:43]

The Lord will not always strive with us. He has given us His Word. He’s given us Himself as the Bread of Life. He’s give us the Table, which is an outward, visible, tangible sign and seal of His death for us. That’s why we come to the Table, to remember His death until He comes, to anticipate the banquet feast that we will have with Him in heaven at the marriage feast of the Lamb and His bride. [00:24:55]

The Spirit and the Bride still say, “Come. Come ye who have no money and eat freely of the Bread of Life, of the Bread that has come down from heaven.” And so I ask that this morning you leave your hardened hearts in the parking lot. The calluses on your soul, let them be gone, and come to the Lord’s Table and feed upon Him for He is the Bread of Life. [00:25:40]