Food For the Journey

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

The Season of Advent

December 4, 2024

Food For the Journey

Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the crowd. They all ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food.

Matthew 15:36-37

Read Matthew 15:29-37

The people had been in the countryside with Jesus for three days. Luke’s use of scripture from the Messianic prophecies of Isaiah, make it clear that for three days Jesus, the Messiah, had been teaching the people about the Kingdom of God. (Compare verses 30-31 with Isaiah 35:5-6 and the response of the people in verse 31 with Isaiah 29:23b) The Messiah has a personal concern for his people. When the Messiah reaches out to meet the needs of his people, he involves his disciples in the process. He asks his disciples to identify their resources.

In today’s reading, the disciples only had “seven loaves, and a few small fish” (Matthew 15:34). Their focus was on the insufficiency of their resources. Nevertheless, Jesus blesses their resources and sends his disciples to feed and care for his people. There is an abundance of food left over.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, perhaps inspired by today’s passage, thought of the sacrament of Holy Communion as our sustenance, food for the journey. I have found this to be so true. Four years ago, in the trying times of the pandemic, Cheryl and I were led to Anglican Church – one of the very few which remained open in the first months of the covid crisis. After our initial visit, it became our practice to attend the Church on Wednesdays for worship and to receive the Sacrament – food for our journey. After several months we became Sunday as well as Wednesday worshippers at this church.

My Takeaway: In time, the disciples grew in their faith and learned to keep their eyes on Jesus and not just their resources. To continue growing as a disciple of Jesus, I want to keep my eyes on Jesus instead of focusing on what I have, or what I can do.  (See Hebrews 12:2)

Sē’lah                                                                                         

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2024 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.