Jesus, the Son of God

Please turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 14.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

! Matthew chapter 14 verses 13 to 36.

Matthew 14:13–36

!

We have gathered because we have trusted in your Son, Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Savior.

And we ask that in our present gathering, in this time when we hear from you in your Word,

that you would increase our faith to behold your Son, Jesus Christ, in all of His glory,

majesty, power, and love, and grace.

That you would exalt His name and that you would humble us.

That we might be more dependent and more prayerful on you as we leave from this place.

And we ask that you will amaze us afresh.

That you have given to us in Christ the bread of life.

That nourishes unto eternity.

Fill us with more of Yourself.

Your Spirit.

And with the love of Christ.

Right now, Lord, in the reading and preaching of Your Word.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Please stand if you are able.

So that we can honor God as we read.

Amen.

Matthew 14, 13 to 36.

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 ashore, 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 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 crowds 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.

And they all ate and were satisfied.

And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

And those who ate were about five thousand men,

besides women and children.

Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat

and go before Him to the other side,

while He dismissed the crowds.

And after He had dismissed the crowds,

He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.

When evening came, He was there alone.

But the boat by this time was a long way from the land,

beaten by the waves,

for the wind was against them.

And in the fourth watch of the night,

He came to them walking on the sea.

But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea,

they were terrified and said,

It is a ghost.

And they cried out in fear.

But immediately Jesus spoke to them,

saying,

Take heart, it is I.

Do not be afraid.

And Peter answered Him,

Lord, if it is You,

command me to come to You on the water.

He said,

Come.

So Peter got out of the boat

and walked on the water

and came to Jesus.

But when he saw the wind,

he was afraid.

And beginning to sink,

he cried out,

Lord, save me.

Jesus immediately reached out His hand

and took hold of him,

saying to him,

O you of little faith,

why did you doubt?

And when they got into the boat,

the wind ceased.

And those in the boat worshipped Him,

saying,

Truly, you are the Son of God.

And when they had crossed over,

they came to land at Gennesaret.

And when the men of that place recognized Him,

they sent around to all that region

and brought to Him all who were sick

and implored Him

that they might only touch the fringe of His garment.

And as many as touched it were made well.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

Please be seated.

Acts chapter 8 records

Acts 8 · chapter mention

that in the first century,

there was a man named Simon.

He says that he practiced magic in the city

and amazed the people of Samaria.

And he claimed to be somebody great.

People all paid attention to what he said

and they said of him,

This man is the power of God

that is called great.

And so they called him Simon Magus.

Simon the Magician.

This is the same man who,

in Acts 8, 18-20,

was amazed by the power of the Holy Spirit

falling upon God's people

as the apostles laid hands on them,

that he sought to buy that power with money,

offer the apostles money,

give me also the ability and power to do that.

And Peter, of course, rebuked Him,

saying,

May your silver perish with you

because you thought you could obtain

the gift of God with money.

And so his name has come down in infamy now

because that practice of seeking to

or buying a sacred thing

like an office of an elder or pastor

with money is now called simony.

Later tradition says that Simon Magus

tried to prove that he is divine

by staging a flying demonstration.

But then he fell and broke his legs

and then died shortly thereafter.

This later story is told

in a sensationalized account

in an apocryphal book

that's not part of the biblical canon,

so it's possible that that never happened.

But nonetheless,

Simon Magus fits the stereotype

of many throughout history

who have claimed to be God

but were exposed later on.

There have been other powerful men

throughout history

who have claimed divine status

like Roman Emperor Domitian

in the first century AD

who told people to dress him

as Lord and God.

Or Alexander the Great

of fourth century BC

who claimed to be the son of Zeus.

But neither of these men

garnered any enduring worship

after their death.

And today,

no one claims

that these men were God

or worshiped them as such.

No magical ability,

no political authority or power,

no military dominance or charisma

could sustain these men's claims

to divinity.

How then did Jesus Christ,

whom we saw in the preceding chapter

in chapter 13

as a carpenter's son

whose mother was called Mary,

who had common ordinary brothers

in James, Joseph, and Simon, and Judas,

who hailed from a small,

unremarkable town of Nazareth

and was born of a conquered

and subjugated people, the Jews,

how did he sustain his claim

to be the son of God?

People believed him.

During his generation

and right up to our present generation,

millions upon millions,

billions upon billions

have proclaimed that Jesus

is the son of God.

If you think of it

in a historical sense,

it really is a remarkable phenomenon.

In our passage this morning,

we see Jesus' disciples

worship Jesus saying,

truly you are the son of God.

We've seen up to this point

in the Gospel of Matthew,

spiritual beings,

demons acknowledging

that Jesus is the son of God.

But we have yet to see humans

acknowledge that Jesus

is the son of God.

This is the first time.

And that acknowledgement poses

to us in the 21st century

the same question.

What say you?

What do you make of Jesus?

Who do you say that he is?

Do you believe that Jesus

is the son of God?

And on this third Sunday of Advent,

that's the main point of my sermon,

to trust in Jesus,

for he is the compassionate son of God

who saves us.

First, we're going to look at

how he is the bread in the wilderness.

And second, we're going to look at

how he is the tamer of the sea.

Verse 13 begins,

now when Jesus heard this,

he withdrew from there in a boat

to a desolate place by himself.

We took a break from Matthew last week,

so you might not remember

what it is that prompts Jesus

to remove himself

to a desolate place by himself.

But he's referring to Herod Antipas,

a beheading of John the Baptist

in the preceding passage.

Earlier in chapter 12, verse 15,

when Jesus noticed

that the Pharisees were conspiring

against him how to destroy him,

he also withdrew from there.

And we're seeing now the same pattern.

It's not yet the time for Jesus

to go to the cross and die.

It's not yet the time for Jesus

to have that overt confrontation

with the Jewish religious authorities

or with the kings of the earth.

Herod Antipas killed John the Baptist,

and now he has heard about the fame of Jesus,

he said in Matthew chapter 14, verse 1.

Matthew 14:1

He fears that Jesus is John the Baptist

raised from the dead,

and he believes that's why

miraculous powers at work in him.

And so that doesn't bode well for Jesus.

Jesus avoids the overt confrontation

at this time.

He withdraws to a desolate place.

That's another translation for a desert

or the wilderness.

So it may not be the exact same place.

It's probably not the exact same place

that John the Baptist ministered in.

He ministered in the wilderness,

in a desolate place in the desert.

But the verbal parallel still hearkens

that parallel, the connection

between John the Baptist's ministry

in the wilderness

and Jesus' withdrawal now

into the wilderness.

The servants and prophets of God

are often found not in the palaces of kings,

but in the desolate wilderness.

Marginalized.

Persecuted.

So don't be surprised if in the future

you find yourself in a similar place.

But like a celebrity

who can't get away from the paparazzi,

Jesus cannot get away from the adoring crowds.

He says in verse 13,

but when the crowds heard it,

they followed him on foot from the towns.

And they must have been very fleet on foot

because they get there before Jesus does

with the boat.

He says that when he gets there in verse 14,

there's a great crowd already waiting for him there.

Imagine being in Jesus' shoes for a moment.

He has been traveling all over the place.

He's an itinerant preacher.

He's teaching and healing all over the place.

He's probably exhausted.

On top of that,

he has just heard that his friend

and forerunner, John the Baptist,

was murdered.

He wants some time away from the crowds

to be alone.

So he withdraws to a desolate place

where he can be alone.

But these unconcerned, heedless people

just will not leave him alone.

They follow him even to that desolate place.

What would you feel if you were in that situation?

Annoyance?

Frustration?

Perhaps even anger

at people's selfishness

and lack of consideration.

But that's not what we see

in this portrait of Jesus.

He says that when Jesus saw a great crowd,

he had compassion on them

and healed their sick.

When people see others in need,

they can respond with a cold indifference.

It's none of my business.

Or they can respond with presumptuous judgment.

Oh, they're needy because it's their fault.

They deserve what they got.

But a compassionate person

doesn't respond in either of those ways.

A compassionate person feels sympathy.

He feels pity for the person in need.

He desires to meet that need.

This is a wonderful attribute

of our Savior Jesus Christ

that we see over and over again

in the Gospel of Matthew.

Early in chapter 9, verses 35 to 36,

when Jesus saw the crowds

that were helpless and harassed

like sheep without a shepherd,

he says that Jesus had compassion on them.

Same word.

Later in Matthew 15, verse 32,

Matthew 15:32

when Jesus sees a crowd that is hungry,

he says that they had nothing to eat.

And he says that Jesus had compassion on the crowd.

In chapter 20, verse 34,

when two blind men cry out to Jesus,

saying, please open our eyes,

it says that Jesus had compassion on them,

and therefore he healed them.

It's translated pity there in the ESV,

but it's the same exact word in the Greek.

And then in the parable of the unforgiving servant

that Jesus tells in Matthew 18,

God is represented as the master

who then has compassion on the servant

who owes him a large debt and forgives his debt.

This is what God is like.

The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God.

And that's what Jesus is like.

But because we're used to dealing with people

who are not compassionate,

who are sinful like us,

we are conditioned not to expect God and Jesus

to be compassionate as they actually are

when we are needy.

When we come to God as empty-handed beggars,

when we come to God as impoverished debtors,

debtors, when we come to God as sorry sinners,

seeking his forgiveness,

God does not scoff or scorn.

He has compassion on us.

When we acknowledge our weakness

and turn to him in prayer

and seek his power in prayer,

God does not turn away

and tells us to figure it out on our own.

When we acknowledge our sinfulness

and seek God's forgiveness,

he does not condemn us.

He has compassion on us.

And because of his compassion,

Jesus continues to interact with the crowd

and it says in verse 14

that he healed their sick.

We see Jesus doing this later

in verses 34 to 36 as well

after he has crossed over to Gennesaret.

It says that they hear of his coming

and they bring all their sick.

It's quite the welcome, right?

Bring all the sick people.

Let's go see Jesus.

And they're so eager.

They just want the sick people

to touch the fringe of his garment,

knowing that even then they will be healed.

And it did happen that way.

It's similar to what happens in Acts 19

when people touch the handkerchiefs

and aprons that Paul had touched

and then they're healed through that as well.

It seems that when God is so powerfully

at work in and through someone,

even that kind of indirect contact

can lead to extraordinary healing.

But let's return to verse 15.

As Jesus is healing and ministering to people,

the day wears away

and his disciples anticipate

a very practical problem.

He says,

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.

With the sun setting,

the disciples think

Jesus has surely lost track of time.

Jesus, this is a desolate place.

There's no place to get food around here.

So before it's too late,

you better send them off

so that they can disperse into the villages

and buy food for themselves,

lest they be stranded without food

in the middle of the nowhere,

in the middle of the night.

It's a thoughtful and sensible concern.

But Jesus responds in verse 16,

They need not go away.

You give them something to eat.

The sentence structure

is actually emphatic.

So you can read it exactly the way I read it.

They need not go away.

You give them something to eat.

But the disciples object in verse 17,

We have only five loaves here

and two fish.

The meager portions of food that they have

is not quite enough

even to feed Jesus and his 12 apostles.

How can it possibly feed 5,000 men

besides the woman and the children?

In 2 Kings 4,

we see a similar situation

when prophet Elijah

needs to feed 100 men

and it says that they only had

20 loaves of barley

and fresh ears of grain.

And Elijah tells his servant,

Give to the man that they may eat.

And then the servant responds,

How can I set this

before 100 men?

20 loaves for 100 men,

not enough.

5 loaves for 5,000 men,

how can that be possibly enough?

It says specifically 5,000 men

and women and children besides.

It was common in the ancient world

to estimate the size of large crowds

by simply counting the men

and then you can guess

how many women and children

there might be in addition to that.

So conservative estimates say

that this is in the tens of thousands of people.

The math is insurmountable.

Jesus' command,

You give them something to eat,

must have sounded to the disciples

like a joke.

You're funny, Jesus.

Me?

But as they look into Jesus' eyes,

they realize,

Oh, he's serious.

And then they become incredulous.

You're kidding, right?

You're kidding.

We have one loaf of bread

for every thousand men.

How can we possibly set this out

before this great crowd?

But this is how God likes to work, isn't it?

He gives us missions

with their odds stacked against us.

In Judges 7,

God takes the 32,000 soldiers of Gideon

and then he whittles them down

and down and down

until there's 300 left

before he sends them out

in war against the Midianites.

In 1 Kings 18,

why does God send Elijah

by himself

to confront the 450 prophets of Baal?

To show that nothing can hinder

the Lord from saving,

whether by many or by few.

As God tells the Israelites

in Deuteronomy 7, 7,

it was not because you were more numerous,

more in number than any other people

that the Lord set his love on you

and chose you,

for you were the fewest of all peoples.

God didn't choose the Israelites

because they were a great enumeration.

He chose them

even though they were the fewest.

Compare that to 1 Corinthians 1, 26 to 29.

For consider your calling, brothers.

Not many of you were wise

according to worldly standards.

Not many were powerful.

Not many were of noble birth.

But God chose what is foolish in the world

to shame the wise.

God chose what is weak in the world

to shame the strong.

God chose what is low and despised in the world,

even things that are not,

to bring to nothing things that are.

Why?

So that no human being

might boast in the presence of God.

God often sends his people out

with intentional defects and deficits

so that they have no choice

but to depend on him

and so that in the end,

no human being might boast

in the presence of God.

At the end of this event,

no disciple is going to say

after feeding of the 5,000,

wow, look at me.

I really underestimated

!

I really underestimated

how gifted I am at dividing bread.

But,

we are sent out with needs

that only God can fill

so that in the end,

only God receives the glory.

Do you remember

what Pastor Ed said last week

at the ordination service?

That this is what he feels like?

He feels like a disciple

with five loaves

and two fish in his hand

being commanded to feed a multitude.

His resources and abilities

like that of any other pastor,

it's meager compared

to the great task before him.

But that deficit is intentional.

Likewise,

when some of you return

to your unbelieving family members

this Christmas,

wondering how you're going

to bear witness to Jesus

and share the good news

of Jesus Christ with them,

and feeling inadequate,

remember that the deficit

is intentional.

It is an invitation

to come to Jesus

in your weakness

and in need

and to plead

for his help and power.

Look at what Jesus says

in verse 18.

Bring them here

to me.

Jesus doesn't say,

okay,

send them out

into the villages

in that case

so that they can buy

bread for themselves.

There are many shops

not far from here

so go quickly

and buy more bread

for the crowd

and come back.

No,

Jesus does not expect

the crowd

to feed themselves

nor does he expect

his disciples

to rely on their own resources

and their own resourcefulness.

No,

he invites them

to depend on him.

Bring them to me.

Bring those loaves

to me.

As the hymn famously says,

what a friend

we have in Jesus.

All our sins

and griefs to bear.

What a privilege

to carry

everything to God

in prayer.

Are we weak

and heavy laden

cumbered with

a load of care?

Precious Savior

still our refuge.

Take it to the Lord

in prayer.

Imagine that you're

in a pottery studio

and you just

shaped a nice

concave bowl

and you told your friend,

hey,

look at my bowl

and then

your friend goes,

oh,

that's misshapen.

That's a misshapen,

useless ball.

What's up

with that hollow cavity

in the middle?

Let me help you.

And then he remolds it

and turns it into a ball.

Right?

He has profoundly

misunderstood

your intent.

But that's what

we often do

with God.

God put

the cavity there.

He put

that empty spot

there

intentionally.

He put

that deficit

there.

It's there

because God

intends to fill it

with himself

and with his grace

and with his power.

Our need is there

because God

intends to meet it

but we run

ourselves haggard

trying to be

self-sufficient.

trying to be

self-righteous.

Trying to prove

ourselves

to ourselves

and to all those

around us

that we are not

as needy

and weak

and sinful

as we actually

are.

But we must

stop living

like that.

Don't try to

fill the deficit

that God has put

inside your life.

So the disciples

bring the five loaves

and the two fish

to Jesus

and he says

in verses 19 to 20

then he ordered

the crowds

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.

Notice the sequence

of events here.

Jesus is still

requiring

by doing this

requiring

and asking

and inviting

his disciples

to put their

trust in him.

After Jesus

prays

the five loaves

of bread

do not start

multiplying

by themselves

and overflowing

the baskets

like the treasures

in Lestrange's

vault

in Gringotts

or something like that.

Every time

Jesus touches

one bread

it turns into

ten more bread.

That's not what happens.

It's the same

five loaves

of bread

that Jesus

hands to his disciples

to distribute

to the crowds.

So imagine

yourself

in the disciples'

shoes.

He just took it

he just prayed

for it

and then

wait for it

wait for it

wait for it

oh it's still

five loaves

of bread.

Okay?

And then

he hands it

to him.

Alright

go.

Okay.

Alright.

I mean

if I'm

one of the

disciples

I'm not

giving away

very much

you know?

It's like

it's like

it's like

most churches

communion sized

wafers

you know?

It's like

but

it's in

the act

of

in their

act of

faith

and obedience

as they

trust Jesus

and start

distributing

this bread

the meager

portions of bread

that the

miracle happens.

And

as they're

giving this

out

soon

any

remaining

doubt

and unbelief

turns into

disbelief

what?

We're still

going?

And then

as they

keep obeying

as they

keep believing

they grow

in confidence

they grow

in faith

and now

they're

giving out

big chunks

of bread

here you

go.

There's

still more

there's

still more

it says

in verse

20

they all

ate

and were

satisfied

and they

took up

twelve

baskets

full of

the

broken

pieces

left

over.

Jesus

didn't

just

wet

people's

appetites

just

enough

to

stave

off

their

hunger

until

their

next

meal

no

Jesus

satisfied

them.

And

how

kind

is it

of

Jesus

to

use

his

disciples

in

this

setting?

Jesus

could

have

cut

the

disciples

out

of

the

equation

altogether.

He

could

have

distributed

the bread

himself.

He

asks

instead

his

disciples

to

distribute

the

bread.

To

have

the

privilege

of

being

employed

in

God's

service.

To

experience

the

joy

of

seeing

God

work

powerfully

and in

doing so

building up

their

faith.

And

how

kind

also

of

Jesus

to

use

the

five

loaves

that

his

disciples

had

to

begin

with.

Jesus

could

have

cut

that

out

of

the

equation

too.

He

could

have

just

prayed

and

then

he

could

have

rained

manna

from

heaven

like

he

did

in

the

wilderness.

He

didn't

have

to

use

the

disciples

five

loaves

of

bread

but

Jesus

doesn't

do

that.

Instead

the

disciples

experienced

the

privilege

of

having

their

meager

ordinary

resources

multiplied

by

God

to

accomplish

extraordinary

things.

Isn't

that what

God

does

with

every

single

one

of

us?

God

used

my

stumbling

mumbling

gospel

witness

to draw

that

person

a little

closer

to

Christ?

God

you

used

my

imperfect

example

to

challenge

a

brother

or

sister

in

Christ

onto

greater

obedience?

You

used

my

five

loaves

of

bread

to

feed

the

five

thousand.

How

kind

is our

Lord?

I

mentioned

to you

that this

miracle

mirrors

the one

performed

by

prophet

Elijah

but

there

is

a

still

older

miracle

that

the feeding

of the

multitude

in the

wilderness

alludes

to

a

millennia

and a

half

before

this

event

at the

time

of

Israel's

exodus

!

God

used

Moses

to

to

rain

bread

down

from

heaven

to

feed

his

people

in

the

wilderness

likewise

here

in a

desolate

place

in the

wilderness

Jesus

provides

bread

for

his

people

and

I

don't

think

it's

coincidence

that

they

end

up

with

twelve

baskets

full

of

leftover

broken

bread

why

why

twelve

because

of course

there's

twelve

apostles

and because

there's

the twelve

tribes

of Israel

this is

God's

way of

showing

us

that

in

Christ

he

satisfies

all

of

his

people

!

Jesus

is

gathering

together

a

people

of

God

to

himself

and

sitting

at

the

head

of

that

dining

table

in a

parallel

passage

of

this

account

in

John

6

after

performing

this

miracle

Jesus

says

truly

truly

I

say

to

you

it

was

not

Moses

who

gave

you

the

bread

from

heaven

but

my

father

gives

you

the

true

bread

from

heaven

for

the

bread

of

God

is

he

who

comes

down

from

heaven

and

gives

life

to

the

world

then

Jesus

says

something

remarkable

he

says

I

am

the

bread

of

life

whoever

comes

to

me

shall

not

hunger

and

whoever

believes

in

me

shall

not

thirst

we

spend

our

lives

working

and

working

and

working

for

what

Jesus

calls

the

bread

that

perishes

Food

that

perishes

!

But

he

tells

us

to

seek

the

food

that

endures

to

eternal

life

which

the

Son of

Man

will

give

you

John

6

27

and

this

bread

of

life

is

nothing

less

than

the

eternal

life

imparting

Jesus

Christ

the

Son

of

God

himself

note

well

the

sequence

of

verbs

used

to

describe

Jesus

actions

in

verse

19

what

does

he

do

first

he

took

the

bread

what

does

he

do

next

he

blessed

he

said

a

blessing

this

is

probably

him

giving

thanks

to

God

for

his

provision

and

then

third

he

broke

the

bread

and

fourth

he

gave

it

to

his

disciples

it

is

also

no

coincidence

that

this

exact

sequence

of

these

exact

four

words

are

used

in

every

single

one

of

the

synoptic

gospels

Matthew

Mark

and

Luke

during

the

Passover

meal

during

Jesus

last

supper

when

he

is

instituting

the

Lord

supper

he

takes

bread

and

after

blessing

it

he

broke

!

it

!

and

then

he

gave

it

to

the

disciples

and

said

take

eat

this

is

my

body

the

Lord's

supper

points

to

Jesus

as

the

spiritual

bread

of

life

that

gives

us

sustenance

unto

eternal

life

we are

all

desperate

sinners

woefully

!

inadequate

in our

own

righteousness

but

God

in his

love

sent

his

only

son

Jesus

Christ

to die

on the

cross

to

appease

the

just

wrath

of

God

the

father

and

to

atone

for

our

sins

and

then

he

was

raised

from

the

dead

on

the

third

day

for

our

justification

Jesus

gave

himself

his

very

life

his

own

body

to

be

the

spiritual

food

the

bread

that

nourishes

us

unto

eternal

life

that

is

the

ultimate

miracle

that

this

relatively

small

miracle

compared to

that

is

pointing

to

and

they

all

ate

and

were

satisfied

apart

from

the

two

instances

of

the

feeding

of

the

multitude

that

we

find

in

the

gospel

of

Matthew

there's

only

one

other

place

in

the

gospel

of

Matthew

where

we

see

that

word

satisfied

you

might

remember

if

you've

been

with

us

through

this

series

in

the

gospel

of

Matthew

in

the

Beatitudes

Matthew

5

6

blessed

are

those

who

hunger

and

thirst

for

righteousness

do you

hunger

for

righteousness

a

hunger

implies

two

things

first

a

lack

of

something

you

don't

have

food

so

you're

hungry

and

it

implies

a

second

thing

you're

longing

for

something

you

long

for

food

so

you

are

hungry

you

need

both

in

order

to

be

hungry

do

you

recognize

your

hunger

for

righteousness

you

lack

righteousness

you

and

I

lack

the

righteousness

that

God

requires

of

us

we

cannot

be

righteous

enough

we

cannot

satisfy

the

standards

of

God's

law

and

having

recognized

that

hunger

do

you

long

for

do

you

hunger

for

that

righteousness

not

your

own

righteousness

but

an

alien

righteousness

righteousness

that

comes

from

God

the

righteousness

that

Christ

imputes

to

us

because

of

his

substitutionary

death

on the

cross

on our

behalf

that's

the

promise

implicit

in this

miracle

that

if you

come

to

Jesus

and

if

you

take

hold

of

Jesus

by

faith

and

faith

is

the

hand

and

mouth

of

our

souls

by

which

we

consume

the

bread

of

life

Jesus

Christ

if

you

do

that

if

you

come

to

Jesus

if

you

trust

in

Jesus

because

he

is

the

compassionate

son

of

God

who

saves

us

you

will

be

satisfied

so

Jesus

is

the

bread

in the

wilderness

and

we

also

see

that

he

is

the

tamer

of

the

sea

he

says

in

verses

22

to

24

immediately

he

made

the

disciples

get

into

the

boat

and

go

before

him

to

the

other

side

while

he

dismissed

the

crowds

and

after

he

had

dismissed

the

crowds

he

went

up

on

the

mountain

by

himself

to

pray

when

evening

came

he

was

there

alone

but

the

boat

by

this

time

was

a

long

way

from

the

land

beaten

by

the

waves

!

Jesus

still

wants

some

time

alone

to

be

by

himself

in

prayer

toward

God

his

father

so

after

feeding

the

multitude

he

says

that

Jesus

immediately

made