The King and His Kingdom

The intent of this question is to focus on the love and compassion of our Lord. Note how Jesus' focus was on providing for the physical needs of others while at the same time providing for their spiritual needs. The miracle was significant, but the message of love and compassion was more to the point.

The feeding of the 5,000 occurred just after John's death. It is possible that some of the crowd had been followers of John, or certainly baptized by him. Now Jesus takes over as the leading public figure in declaring the same message of the arrival of the Kingdom but with the further message that so too has the King arrived. Jesus was able to perform miracles to validate His position as the Son of God sent to establish God's Kingdom.

Why did Jesus send the disciples ahead in a boat?

He wanted some time in solitude for prayer. He had previously attempted this before but was interrupted by the crowds. Note: This is perhaps showing His attitude in putting others first before His own desires.

What was the reaction of the apostles when Jesus entered the boat and the storm ceased, and what does this show us about their faith?

They worshipped Jesus as God's son indicating their emerging faith in who He was. Note: They had already seen the event of feeding the 5,000, walking on water, and Peter's involvement. This only added to His demonstration of power over nature. Although He professed who He was, we would see later that this awareness needed to be reenforced. This is not an indictment against them, but an awareness that their faith was in its infancy. They had a lifetime of mistaken teaching about the King and the Kingdom to overcome. This is a reminder to us today that when we bring someone to the truth of who and what our Lord is, they too may have much to unlearn and we must be loving and patient.

Give some examples of misperceptions of who the disciples thought Jesus was and some misperceptions of who people today might believe about Jesus and how we can bring them to the truth.

As with most of Israel, they anticipated a physical and political King and kingdom. Jesus was not who and what they expected. This was due much in part to what they had been taught to believe by their religious leadership. They demonstrated the same level of misunderstanding many have today as to the nature of Jesus and His Kingdom. Again, many have been led to believe this by various religious leaders. We must ensure we understand clearly who Jesus and the Kingdom are so we can guide others to the truth.

Jesus' demonstrated compassion for everyone, especially those in need who were overlooked or discarded. Jesus provided hope to the hopeless and always responded to faith. In this event some wanted only to touch His garment (Note: Matthew 9:18-22). We must show this same regard to others in general and especially those who are in need. We are motivated to do so when we recognize our own weaknesses and need for God's mercy in our own lives.

What had the religious leaders done to God's commands and what can we learn from this event?

The religious leaders, through either misunderstanding, love of tradition or other reasons, had imposed oppressive rules in interpreting God's will upon the people. These did not produce the joy that was originally intended by God in expressing His will for His people. We must be careful not to impose man-made rules instead of God's in our efforts to serve and please God. We don't need to impose our interpretation or will upon others. Sometimes we impose a greater weight upon traditions rather than the true will of God.

What are some examples of man-made traditions that might have greater weight than God's true will?

Answers will vary here. Look for examples of man-made traditions like ceremonies, times for coming together for worship, methods of worship, or other such traditional or expedient activities.

What is the danger from man-made traditions having greater weight than God's will?

Answers will vary but look for how man-made rules and traditions act to discourage rather than encourage. There is also the danger of overshadowing God's will with the less important rules or traditions invented by human beings. The danger here is that we convert someone to an organization or a way of doing things rather than to the Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

Our attitude is critical to our relationship with God. No one can fully keep God's laws (Romans 3:21-25). It has always been more important to God that we approach him with a pure heart (I Samuel 15:22; Psalms 51:17).

Answers will vary but look for understanding that Jesus was not calling the woman a dog, simply emphasizing His mission was to the Jews first. Because of her insistence and demonstrated faith, he grants her request for healing.

Jesus continues to show compassion and rewards faith.

He had compassion on those wanting to hear him, to the point of forsaking their basic needs.

Jesus did more than feed them, he rewarded them for their faith. Interestingly, the disciples questioned again about feeding the crowd with a small amount of food. One wonders why they doubted after several examples of Jesus' power. This further underscores the need for our patience and understanding as people come to an awareness of who Jesus truly is.

Look for examples of how Jesus shows love and compassion to all, especially those demonstrating faith in any form, and from anyone. He rewarded expressions of faith time and again.

Jesus stated in John 3:15 that God loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die for us. Jesus then spent His ministry on earth demonstrating through His life what this love looks like and what we must do as His disciples and servants. We accept God's grace and love by our demonstration of faith through our own conversion and then express that love for others. In doing so, we show them the true character of our Lord and Master. We show Jesus as He truly is and invite others to share in that love.

The love and compassion Jesus demonstrated was also taught by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23 as the fruit of the Spirit. As the influence of God's Spirit grows in us, so too will these external demonstrations of His Spirit's power be seen by others. This lesson has focused on love and kindness, but the other fruit of the Spirit were evident in Jesus' life and will be evident in ours as we grow spiritually.