-JESUS' COMPASSION ~~
-The Bread of Life -
--(Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:1-15/ Study Guide)

Interestingly, the stress seen that day is not on Jesus' face, but on the faces of the disciples.

"Send the crowds away," they demand. Fair request. "After all," they are saying, "You've taught them. You've healed them. You've accomodated them. And now they're getting hungry. If we don't send them away, they'll want You to feed them too!"

I wish I could have seen the expression on the disciples' faces when they heard the Master's response...

"You give them something to eat."...Rather than look to God, they looked in their wallets. "That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?"

"Y-y-y-you've got to be kidding."
"He can't be serious."
"It's one of Jesus's jokes."
"Do you know how many people are out there?!"

Eyes watermelon wide, Jaws dangling open, One ear hearing the din of the crowd, the other the command of God.

Don't miss the contrasting views. When Jesus saw the people, He saw an opportunity to love and affirm value. When the disciples saw the people they saw thousands of problems.

Also, don't miss the irony. In the midst of a baker--in the presence of the Eternal Baker--they tell the "Bread of Life" that there is no bread.

How silly we must appear to God.
Here's where Jesus should have given up. This is the point in the pressure-packed day where Jesus should have exploded. The sorrow, the life threats, the exuberance, the crowds, the interruptions, the demands, and now this. His own disciples can't do what He asks them. In front of five thousand men, they let Him down.

"Beam Me up, Father" should have been Jesus' next words. But they weren't. Instead He inquires. "How many loaves do you have?"

The disciples bring Him a little boy's lunch.
A lunch pail becomes a banquet, and all are fed. No word of reprimand is given. No furrowed brow of anger is seen. No "I-told-you-so" speech is delivered. The same compassion Jesus extends to the crowd is extended to His friends.~~~

[That same love and compassion of our Savior and Lord Jesus is extended to each one of us. Will you take it? Will you follow Him? Jesus, the Bread of Life, died so that you and I might live eternally.]