ALMS - MATTHEW 14:13-21
13 When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.
14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.
15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.
16 But Jesus said unto them,They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
17 And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.
18 He said,Bring them hither to me.
19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.
21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. KJV
In these verses we hear the Apostle's Matthews account of the miraculous feeding. It is interesting to note in verse 13 that Jesus departed by ship to find a deserted place for rest. The Lord and His disciples traveled across the Sea of Galilee quite commonly. This means they probably went to the opposite side of the lake. Although it was called the Sea of Galilee it was not the size of our larger seas of today in comparison to South China, Caribbean, Mediterranean, etc.... The Sea of Galilee is approximately 13 to 14 miles long and 3 to 7 miles wide depending upon your crossing point. Jesus and His disciples typically crossed the width of the sea probably at a place that lodged boats, for simplicity sake we will approximate about 5 miles crossing distance. This must be mentioned because this Sea of Galilee was really more like a lake which means people could walk to the other side of this lake it would just take a longer time. So when verse 13 states that they followed him on foot it could be speaking of people on both sides of the lake or just the ones they left to find privacy. Whatever the case may be Jesus noticed a great multitude coming towards Him in verse 14 in which He showed compassion toward them and healed their sick. The Lord has such a compassionate heart that He is always willing to change His plans in an effort to meet your needs. This process was not a one-hour meeting but lasted a good part of the day all the way up to that evening according to verse 15. We can understand from the conversation with the disciples that Jesus was trying to get away from the people for His disciple’s sake. The Lord knows that His ministers need rest because if they are denied proper rest they can become easily agitated and irritable. In this example we see the frustration of the disciples when Jesus doesn't close out the meeting. However, that is something we must grow to love about Jesus as far as He is concerned He will never close His meeting with you. The disciples were not really concerned about the people eating they only wanted to get some rest and relaxation but because our Lord is so very gracious He thought we will all get some rest and relaxation together. Thus the statement of verse 16 by Jesus, "They need not depart; give ye them to eat". This was the first time Jesus performed this type of miracle so the disciples were not expecting a multiplication of food. We see that the disciples told Jesus about what they had on hand expecting the Lord to dismiss the ideal to feed everyone. This speaks to us about God's thoughts being higher than our earthly thoughts and His Heavenly ways being way higher than our earthly practices. Verse 18 gives us the common instruction for everything we are wondering what to do about in our life. The always-correct answer is to bring it (the thought, the mystery, the confusion, the hurt, the frustration) to Jesus to get His thoughts on the matter. This is referred to as taking it to the Holy Bible and prayer. The second you cast your care upon the Lord He will start tearing apart what needs to be broken-up to give back to you in more manageable pieces. The Lord Jesus did not do everything for them (the people or the disciples) but He did give them the wisdom of God and practical substance to use in their time of need. The Lord can (and will) perform a supernatural work on the things you leave in His care but it is still up to you to take what He gives back to you and use it for good. The disciples knew that when Jesus was giving them instructions all they needed to do was simply obey. The Lord always leads by example, therefore He showed the disciples to start everything by looking up (find the scripture that fits your situation), then bless the situation before God (give thanks unto God and speak well over the situation), then give to the disciples (use your resources to minister to someone else) and that someone else can use their resources to minister to another (the disciples gave to the multitude). In verse 20 we recognize the results of compassion with the term, "And they did all eat, and were filled:". This tells us that the ones who were sick were filled with healing, the ones who needed teaching were filled with knowledge and the ones who were hungry were filled with food. Although this shows us a natural application of God's practical ministry of love we also notice that God's spiritual heart always precedes (leads) His natural actions. We must be that way too, because if we don't choose to love others we will not think about giving them "alms". The alms gift that had its infancy in the compassion of Christ reached its climax in the enjoyment shared by the people of God. We must mention that the gift of "alms" did not stop with the conclusion of the meeting because the disciples gathered up the left over pieces to accumulate twelve baskets full. This teaches us never to overlook the small blessings all around us because when we take account of each one we can truly appreciate that our cup runs over. In verse 21 the mention of, "about five thousand men, beside women and children" speaks about two things. The first thing it teaches us is that God will provide equally and abundantly for all people in His presence. If you are a man, woman or child you qualify for God's provision the key is you must be in the right place of the presence of God, which is always near Jesus. The second item worth mentioning is that the divine order of God is still in place. It is God's Will to speak to the minister of God (the disciples) for them to give to the man of the family (a godly man who is saved) which will give directly to his spouse (yes, his right hand wife) for her to distribute to the children. It really doesn't matter how many children a mother has under her care she will portion out the food to what is best for her family. She should never have to worry about having food if a godly man is around but she will need to consider the distribution of the food once it is in her hands. This means that an "alms" can do more than just bless a person, it can indeed bless the whole family and even a whole multitude when touched by the Hand of God, which is Jesus Christ. Amen!
In His Love, Eric & Angela Foster