For the Meximize Team

Jesus was really not having a great time.  For one thing, ministry had been intense lately.  There had been huge crowds, teaching, healing, people challenging Him.  And things weren’t getting better.

For one thing, His family had come to see Him.  That normally wouldn’t be a bad thing, of course, but it’s quite possible that they were just bugging Him to come home.  You know,”C’mon, Jesus.  You’re neglecting your home town with all this travel around the country.  Charity begins at home, you know.”  And Jesus did return home.

But when He began teaching in His home town, people just laughed and said,”Wait a second – this is Jesus, that son of Joseph the carpenter!  You mean he is claiming to be a prophet?  My brother grew up just down the street from him.  He’s just an ordinary guy.  Where does he get off claiming to be someone great?!”  There was a lot of unbelief in Nazareth, and Jesus didn’t do many miracles there.

Then the family troubles got worse.  His cousin, who had been arrested, was beheaded.  The news reached Jesus, and He finally knew He just had to get away from it all.  He called together His closest friends, and they decided to get away from the crowds and go on a retreat.  But as they headed for their camp site, they realized they were being followed.  By the time they arrived, another huge crowd of people had formed, clamouring for Jesus to speak to them and heal them and teach them.

After the exhausting weeks, the family trouble and rejection, the family tragedy, the last thing Jesus needed was to have His privacy invaded by this crowd.  But Jesus had compassion.  He did begin to teach and heal.  But then things started to go wrong again.

In their excitement to follow Jesus, the people hadn’t even thought ahead enough to bring enough food.  The healthy ones would soon be sick if they didn’t get something to eat.  Perhaps fights were starting to break out.  They rummaged around and all they could find were 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.  But the bread and fish were brought to Jesus.  And miraculously, He fed everyone, with food to spare.  There were well over 5000 people in the crowd.

As our pastor told this story on Sunday, I thought of the other people on my team that will be in Mexico later this month.  Some of them have not been having a great time either.  Too much work to do, exams, personal tragedy, family problems – it’s all been there.  And I know that while we’re together in Mexico there will be times when we’re just to tired to give, we just don’t want to see another person or try another fumbled Spanish phrase.

But this passage gives us the answers.  First, don’t forget to have compassion.  Don’t just see him or her as another person, don’t just see the crowd, see them all through the eyes of Jesus.  Second, bring what little you have to Jesus, and see what He can do with it.  He can forgive, heal, give strength, and multiply what little we have.

Great things can happen, when we put our lives into the hands of Jesus…