Matthew 14:14

“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them.”

How Jesus solved the issue of John’s untimely and ridiculous death we know not. What we do know is that he was soon drawn back into the ministry of compassion, not judgement.

This led directly to one of Jesus’ most dramatic miracles, the way he fed more than five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish. He did that. After all ate, the disciples filled 12 baskets with “the broken pieces that were left over.”  A miracle of compassion.

Those who ate of that bread and fish remembered Jesus’ compassion and love all their lives. Nothing ever happened like this since God provided manna in the wilderness.

Matthew who helped distribute the bread and fish could only marvel. He leaves us with but sparse detail about the unprecedented event, He could only describe what he saw – the rest is mystery, a mystery embedded in God’s mercy and grace.

I like to think that many who ate that miracle bread on the shore of the lake must have thought back on this event when they shared later on in their communities of Jesus’ love the bread and wine of common communion, the broken body and poured out blood of Jesus Christ in perpetual memorial.

I note that when Jesus paused his story-telling and turned to feeding the hungry and healing the sick he was braiding a new love strand, divine compassion that embraced all reality, physical and spiritual. It was a strong and compassionate bonding. The two are braided into one demonstration of the marvelous compassion of God almighty. We are called to do the same.