Hey, everyone, this is Pastor James Huenink Over at first Lutheran Church, we're starting a new series on our podcast feed called Getting ready for Sunday. It's a look at the upcoming readings for Sunday morning so you can be familiar with them. When you come to church, I examined the Old Testament, epistle reading and Gospel reading for each week with a few notes and a simple explanation. The Gospel reading for August 6 comes from Matthew chapter 14, verses 13 through 21. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But When the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went to shore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. Now, when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the day is now over, send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves. But Jesus said, they need not go away, you'll give them something to eat. They said to Him, we have only five loaves here, and two fish. And he said, bring them here to me. Then he ordered the crowns to sit down on the grass and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven instead of blessing. Then he broke the loaves, and he gave them to his disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowd. And they all ate, and we're satisfied. And they took up 12 baskets full of the broken pieces leftover, and those who ate were about 5000 Men, besides women and children. Here is the reading or reading begins with this. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. So you have to ask, what does this say? What is this referring to? Now when Jesus heard this, the story immediately before this passage is the story of John the Baptist being killed by King Herod the tetrarch. It's a sad story about the daughter of her Rhodius dancing before the king and he makes a promise that he ends up regretting and John's head ends up on a platter. So Jesus hears this, and he is mourning his cousin. So he withdraws to a desolate place by himself, presumably to pray. But the Gospels continue. But when the crowds hurted, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. So Jesus sees the crowd, he's off by himself. And instead of getting a chance to mourn his lost loved one, he gets to take care of the crowd. He heals, they're sick, and they're all gathered together. And it continues. Now, when it was evening disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the day is now over, send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves. It seems like it's covering up some of the things that happened or not quite covering them up, but doesn't say, Jesus probably taught, he healed, the sick, all sorts of things going on, and it finally becomes night. They send them away, verse 16. But Jesus said, they need not go away, you give them something to eat. They said to Him, we have only five loaves here and two fish. And he said, bring them here to me. We know what's about to happen. But the disciples certainly don't. Jesus turns to them and says, You give them food to eat. And they're like, What? We've got nothing here. What are you talking about Jesus, we have only five loaves and two fish. So Jesus, knowing what he's going to do, calms them down. Verse 19. Then he orders the crowd to sit down on the grass and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said, a blessing. Then he broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. On they all ate, and we're satisfied. And they took up 12 baskets full on the broken pieces leftover, and those who ate are about 5000 men besides women and children. Can you imagine what this would be like? You're one of the 12 disciples, Jesus has got the five loaves and the two fish and he breaks them. And then he hands them to the disciples. And the disciples start distributing the loaves and every time they tear a bit of the loaf, the it comes back and they're handing it out. And they keep handing it out. I mean, they probably were a little bit like this little love Jesus what's gonna happen here and the look it out the crowd and it's getting smaller and they think, oh, no, but about halfway through, they still have for their torn piece of loaf left as they continue to pass it out. And by the time they're all the way through, they end up having so much more leftover than what they started with. What an amazing miracle and an amazing experience. The Gospel of Matthew has a theme of Jesus being the new Israel. And we see it over and over and over again that Jesus does the things that the great figures of the history of Israel did. And here we can see Jesus doing a new Moses thing. The crowds are the people out in the wilderness, just like Israel was wandering in the wilderness, and God fed them manna from heaven, bread that they did not know. And here Jesus does something similar. He feeds them bread and meat, just like God in the wilderness. And it shows us that Jesus is fulfilling everything that God had promised in the Old Testament. He is a new Israel, providing for God's people by His might and power.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai