Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Sufficiency of the King in the Desolate Place (Matthew 14:13–21)

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The Sufficiency of the King in the Desolate Place (Matthew 14:13–21) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome back to the Deep Dive. I'm your host and I want to be
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clear right off the top, the name of this show is Reformed
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Thinking. It's good to be here.
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We aren't just skimming the surface of religious texts
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today. We're really trying to get to
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the bottom of what they actually mean.
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And we're using a very specific framework.
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We have a massive stack of sources to get through, and
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today we are going to analyze Matthew 14 verses 13 through 21.
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Right. And it's good you set the stage
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that way. Most people you know, they know
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this text is the feeding of the 5000.
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It is probably one of the most famous stories in the entire
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Bible. Oh, for sure.
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But because it's so famous, we tend to glaze over it.
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We think we know the plot. I definitely fall into that
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trap. I picture a, you know, a nice
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grassy hill, a sunny afternoon, maybe a few people realizing
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they forgot to pack lunch. It feels kind of like a picnic
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that just needed a little catering help.
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That is the Sunday school version for sure.
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But the sources we have today, they really suggest this is
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something else entirely. It's not a picnic, it's a
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collision. A collision.
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Yeah, you have human tragedy, real gritty political violence
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on one side. You have overwhelming human need
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right in the middle, and then you have divine sufficiency just
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crashing into both of them. OK, that's sets a very different
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tone. It feels like we need to strip
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away that familiarity to actually see what is happening
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in the text. We do.
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We absolutely do. The theological stakes here are
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incredibly high. This one narrative.
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It guards against two major errors that are still around
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today. OK, on one side it guards
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against theological liberalism, which, you know, tries to deny
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the miracle entirely and just turn it into a nice social
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fable. Right, the sharing miracle.
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Exactly. And on the other side, it guards
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against modern pragmatism, which tries to manage the miracle.
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Or, you know, replicate it with human effort.
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We need to see what Matthew is actually arguing for here.
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OK, let's unpack this then. To really get it, we have to
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understand the setup. The context here is heavy.
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I mean, this isn't happening in a vacuum.
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No, it is not. The event takes place
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immediately after the execution of John the Baptist.
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Matthew 14.13 opens with When Jesus Heard This that this is
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the report of John's death. And it wasn't a peaceful death.
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Not at all. John was beheaded by Herod at a
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birthday party. I mean, it's a brutal political
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murder. So there's a real physical
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threat in the air. Absolutely.
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John was martyred for prophetic faithfulness.
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He spoke truth to power and he lost his head for it.
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So when the text says Jesus withdrew, it isn't just about
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him being antisocial or needing a break.
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It's more than that. It is a sober recognition of
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this hostility. And the text says he withdrew to
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a desolate place. Or in the Greek eromos topos.
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A desolate place that just sounds like tension right from
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the start if you had a grieving savior, a dangerous political
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climate and a dissolute location.
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And yet, the sources point out that he's not alone for long.
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And that is the mission of this deep dive.
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We need to understand Christ here, not just as a moral
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teacher who gives good advice, but as the Shepherd King.
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We are going to see him create Ex Knee Hilo out of nothing and
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satisfy the specific hunger of his people.
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All right, let's move into that first section, then the context
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of withdrawal and the hypostatic union.
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We mentioned the shadow of death.
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Jesus hears about John and he gets on a boat.
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Right. It's a withdrawal, but we have
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to be really careful how we interpret that.
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It is not escapism, it's not cowardice.
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It is the realization that the forerunner has been killed and
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the king is now at the target. But there is also a personal
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dimension here that our sources highlight, which brings us to a
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core doctrine, the hypostatic union.
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OK, that's a big theological term.
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I feel like we need to define that before we go any further.
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What does that actually mean? It sounds technical, I know, but
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it is absolutely essential for understanding Jesus.
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The hypostatic union teaches that Christ is fully God and
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fully man. 2 natures, one person, and.
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We see that here. We see the evidence of his
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humanity right here in the text. He's physically weary.
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He seeks solitude. He feels the need to grieve the
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death of his cousin and friend John.
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That makes him so much more relatable.
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He isn't a robot. He needs quiet.
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He needs to process loss. Precisely If he were just a
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divine being appearing in human form, death wouldn't bother him,
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He wouldn't get tired. But the Westminster Confession
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is clear that he took on all the essential properties of human
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nature, yet without sin. So he has a human nervous
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system. He is human adrenaline.
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Yes, he feels the weight of the world.
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But then look at what happens, the pursuit of the crowd.
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He's looking for quiet, but the crowd follows him on foot from
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the towns. Talk about a disruption.
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I think we have all felt that, you know, when you just need 5
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minutes of peace and the world comes knocking.
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But this is on a massive scale. It is, and the sources note the
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realism of the scene. Need does not wait for
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convenient moments. The crowd doesn't care that
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Jesus is tired or grieving. They're just desperate.
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But here's the fascinating thing about the setting the sources
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call the wilderness a classroom. A classroom?
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How so? Well, think about Israel's
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history. Where does God teach his people
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in the wilderness? It is a place where human
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resources fail. That's a great point.
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In a city, you have markets, you have money, you have options.
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In the aromos, topos, the desolate place, those things are
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useless. God must be the sole provider.
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So by going there, even if it was for solitude, Jesus has
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stepped onto a stage that recalls the Exodus.
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He has, and that sets up the motivation for everything that
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follows. Which brings us to Section 2.
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The motivation, Visceral compassion.
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The text says Jesus saw the crowd.
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Matthew 14.14 He saw a great crowd.
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Now be honest, if I were tired and grieving and 1000 people
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showed up, I might see them as a nuisance and irritation.
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I would definitely see them as an interruption.
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I'd be thinking, can you guys just come back tomorrow?
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I am warning here. Right, but Jesus doesn't.
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He does not view them as an irritation.
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The text says he had compassion on.
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Them and the sources made a really big deal about the Greek
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word used here. They did, and for good reason.
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The verb is S black niste. That is a mouthful.
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It is. It refers to this black, which
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are the internal organs, the bowels, the gut.
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It basically means he was moved in his gut.
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It is a visceral, physical reaction of pity.
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Wow, so it's not just a play? Oh I feel bad for you.
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It's gut wrenching. Precisely.
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And this is where we see a stark contrast with the secular
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philosophy of that time. You know the Greco Roman gods
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and the Stoic philosophers. They end for Apatheia.
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Which sounds like apathy. It means a lack of feeling.
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To them, a God shouldn't be moved by human suffering because
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that would imply weakness or changeability.
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So God is above it all, distant. Exactly.
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The God of the Bible is distinct because he feels vividly for his
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creation. He is not distant, He is
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involved. That is a huge distinction.
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And God, who feels. But the compassion isn't just a
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feeling, right? I mean, it has to lead
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somewhere. That is the key.
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Compassion in Matthew is never just a passing emotion.
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It moves toward the sufferer. The immediate result in the text
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is that he healed their sick. So he sees the need, feels that
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kick in the gut, and immediately starts working.
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Yes, and the theological implication is massive.
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Christ's ability to act is governed by mercy.
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He addresses the whole misery of the fall.
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He deals with sickness, and as we will see, he deals with
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hunger. He doesn't just care about their
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souls, he cares about their bodies.
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That is a beautiful picture, but as the day goes on, a new
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problem comes up. Right.
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And that we move into Section 3, the conflict, pragmatism versus
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faith. The crisis of evening.
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The sun goes down there in the middle of nowhere, and now the
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crowd is hungry. And the disciples who I often
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relate to come up with a very, very sensible plan.
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Verse 15 Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy
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food for themselves. It sounds very responsible,
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doesn't it? It is efficient.
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It is risk management. It's logical we can't feed them,
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so let them go buy their own food.
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I mean, why is this a problem? Our sources identify this
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mindset as pragmatism. Pragmatism asks what works given
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our current resources. It looks at the visible
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limitations, the lack of food, the lack of money, the time of
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day. And it assumes those limits are
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the limits of reality. So the theological error is that
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it views the crowd as a logistical problem to be
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dispersed. Send them away.
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It is a solution. Of avoidance, that's it.
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And there is a biting modern application here for the church.
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The sources mentioned the seeker sensitive or corporate model
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church. Often when things get difficult
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or needs get overwhelming, the tendency is to send people away
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to secular solutions. Oh, we can't help you with that.
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Go to the village rather than bringing them to Christ.
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That stings a little. We try to outsource the need
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because we feel inadequate. And that is exactly what Jesus
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confronts. He gives them a rebuke and verse
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16 they need not go away. You give them something to eat.
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Talk about an impossible command.
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He knows they don't have food. He knows the impossibility is
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the point. It is intended to expose their
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bankruptcy. He wants them to realize they
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can't do. It and they respond with an
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inventory. Verse 17 We have only 5 loaves
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and two fish. There is that word only.
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That is the only mindset. They're looking at their
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resources. 5 loaves, 2 fish, but they aren't factoring in the
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presence of the Messiah standing right in front of them.
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It's looking at the budget without looking at the king,
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correct? So Jesus offers the corrective
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in verse 18. Bring them here to me.
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That is the shift. That is the pivot from
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calculating to surrendering. The solution isn't in the
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villages, it isn't in the world's economy.
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It is in the hands of the king. Which leads us right to the main
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event, Section 4, the miracle, sovereignty and order.
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And notice the demeanor of Jesus.
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He is the orderly king. Verse 19 says He commands the
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crowd to sit on the grass. He isn't panicking.
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Not all a frantic leader would be running around trying to
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organize lines. Jesus creates A settled
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assembly. The sources point out the
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shepherd imagery here. He is making them lie down in
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green pastures. Then he takes the bread.
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He looks up to heaven. The blessing and breaking, He
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acknowledges. The Father is the source.
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This is the Trinity working in unison, the Son honoring the
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Father. And then the miracle happens.
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Kryacha ex nihilo. Creation out of nothing.
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Now, you mentioned liberal theology earlier.
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This is where they usually try to explain things away, right?
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Yes, a very common interpretation in liberal
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circles is that there was no supernatural miracle.
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They claim that when the boy brought out his lunch, everyone
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else felt guilty and pulled out their hidden lunches and the
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miracle was just sharing. The Stone Soup theory.
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Our sources reject that vigorously.
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The text doesn't say it. Everyone opened their bags.
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It says he broke the loaves and gave them.
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It implies A continuous multiplication.
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This was a literal suspension of natural laws.
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And this connects to the Westminster Confession, doesn't
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it? It does Chapter 5 on Providence.
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It states that God usually uses means like farming and baking to
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produce bread, but He is free to work without, above and against
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them. Here He works above the means of
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the five loaves. He takes the natural matter and
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supernaturally multiplies it. There is another detail here
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about how the bread gets to the people.
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Jesus gives it to the disciples, and the disciples give it to the
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crowds. This is mediated ministry.
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It is a crucial point of ecclesiology or church doctrine.
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The disciples do not manufacture the bread.
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They are stewards. They are waiters.
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O If I am a pastor or a ministry leader, I'm not the chef.
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You are not the chef. You don't create the grace that
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corrects the error of selfsufficiency, but it also
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corrects the air of passivity. You can't just sit there.
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You have to walk into the crowd and distribute.
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The disciples had to physically work to distribute what Christ
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provided. So they are running back and
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forth baskets, filling up, handing it out and the result is
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in Section 5, satisfaction and surplus. 1st 20 They all ate and
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were satisfied. Not just a snack, no.
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Full satisfaction. Remember the number 5000 men
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plus women and children? The crowd was likely much
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larger, maybe 10 or 15,000. And they were stuff.
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They were, but then the leftovers. 12 baskets full.
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The Greek word here is cofinos. These were large, sturdy Jewish
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travel baskets. This wasn't a handful of crumbs.
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And why 12? That seems so specific.
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In Scripture, numbers usually mean something.
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The 12 represents the 12 tribes of Israel.
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It shows that Jesus is providing for the whole nation, but there
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are also 12 disciples. One basket for each disciple.
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Imagine that you are a disciple. An hour ago you said we only
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have 5 loaves. Now you are holding a heavy
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basket of leftovers. It is a personal rebuke to their
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scarcity mindset. Here, hold this.
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This is proof that I am enough. That's right, it teaches them
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that Christ's resources are not depleted by use.
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And the sources make a quick note to reject the prosperity
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gospel here. Right, because some people might
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say, look, Jesus wants you to have access.
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He wants you to be rich. But the surplus wasn't for
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luxury. It wasn't so the disciples could
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open a bakery and get rich. It was to show sufficiency and
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to prevent waste. It was orderly.
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It really changes how you see resources.
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It is not about hoarding, it is about trusting the source.
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Now we have touched on this a bit, but section 6 dives into
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the biblical theological connections.
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This isn't just a random miracle, it fits into a bigger
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story. It is the fulfillment of
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Israel's story. We have Jesus as the greater
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Moses. Moses fed the people manna in
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the wilderness. And Jesus feeds them bread in
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the desolate place. But he's also the greater
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Elisha. In 2 Kings 4, Elisha multiplies
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loaves for 100 men. Jesus does it for thousands.
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He does it on a cosmic scale. And the shepherd imagery again.
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Fulfillment of Ezekiel 34 God promised I myself will be the
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shepherd of my sheep. Jesus is acting that out.
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There is also this fascinating comparison in the sources The
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Tale of Two Banquets. Yes, earlier in Matthew 14 we
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have Herod's banquet. Which was in a palace.
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It was in a palace fueled by pride and alcohol.
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And how did it end? With the head of John the
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Baptist on a platter. Death.
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That's it. Herod's banquet ends in death.
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Now look at Jesus's banquet. It is in a wilderness, it is
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fueled by compassion, and it ends in life and satisfaction.
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That is a stark contrast between the Kingdom of man and the the
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Kingdom of. Heaven.
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It reveals the nature of the king we serve.
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So bringing this home to the listener, Section 7, application
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law and gospel, how do we apply this using those Reformed
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categories? Well, the Law exposes sin in
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this text. The disciples request to send
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them away exposes the sin of unbelief.
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And lovelessness. Yes, it exposes our modern
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tendency to rely on pragmatism, strategies, budgets,
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demographics rather than Christ. It confronts our fear that mercy
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will drain. Us.
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That is the bad news. We are the disciples trying to
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get rid of the problem. What is the Gospel?
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The gospel is Christ's remedy. Christ does not condemn the
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disciples for their poverty. He doesn't say, you idiots, why
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didn't you bring more food? He invites them to bring their
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poverty to Him. And there is a connection to the
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cross here too. There is the bread was taken,
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blessed, broken, and given. It points forward to Christ's
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body being broken for sinners. Justification works the same
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way. We are empty handed.
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We have no righteousness. He provides what we need.
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And finally, the third use of the law, the guide for the
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believer. How do we respond?
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We do not send needs away. We bring them to Christ through
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prayer and the means of grace. For pastors and churches, it
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means we must feed the flock with the Word, the true bread,
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not entertainment. That is a lot to chew on, pun
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intended. Indeed.
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Let's move to the outro. We have covered the context of
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grief, the compassion of the king, the failure of pragmatism
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and the abundance of the miracle.
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The shift from only to abundance, that is the key arc.
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I want to leave the listener with a final provocative
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thought. If the disciples held those
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baskets of leftovers, literal physical proof of Jesus's power,
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and yet still struggled with faith later in the gospel, what
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does that say about the stubbornness of our own hearts?
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And yet the shepherd continues to feed.
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Wait. I feel like we're wrapping up
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too quickly here. The listeners, the learners,
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they TuneIn for the details. And I think we breezed past the
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desolate place as a classroom. We said it, but we didn't really
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dwell on what that feels like. You are right.
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Let's circle back to that geography.
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In the reformed tradition, we pay close attention to typology,
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how Old Testament patterns re emerge in the new.
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The word aromos doesn't just mean quiet, it means dangerous.
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It means a place where life is not naturally sustainable.
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When Israel was in the wilderness, they were completely
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vulnerable. No crops, no water sources.
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If God didn't show up, they died.
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So when Jesus takes them there, he is deliberately stripping
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away the safety Nets. Precisely.
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And think about the psychology of the crowd.
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They followed him away from the towns, away from the markets.
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That is an act of desperation, or perhaps an act of
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subconscious hope. They were leaving the places of
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human sufficiency to go to the place where only God could
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sustain them. It reminds me of how often we
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try to avoid the desolate places in our own lives.
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We insulate ourselves with savings accounts, insurance,
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social status. We do everything we can to
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ensure we never need a miracle. That is the essence of secular
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pragmatism, isn't it? We build civilizations designed
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to make God unnecessary. If I can buy bread, I don't need
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to pray. Give us this day Our Daily Bread
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with any real desperation. But in the desolate place that
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prayer becomes a matter of life and death, Jesus is re
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establishing the fundamental relationship between creator and
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creature, absolute dependence. And that links back to the
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hypostatic union in a really practical way.
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We said Jesus was tired. The sources say he was weary.
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If he is fully God, why does he get tired?
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This is the mystery in the glory of the Incarnation.
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The Westminster Confession is very clear that he takes on all
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the essential properties of human nature, yet without sin.
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He has a human nervous system. He has human adrenaline, He has
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human grief. Right when John died, Jesus
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didn't just download data, He felt the tear in the fabric of
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his relationships. That makes the compassion even
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more impressive. If I'm exhausted, my compassion
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tank is empty. That is the difference between
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human compassion and divine compassion mediated through a
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perfect human nature. His weariness did not result in
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sin. It did not result in
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selfishness. Even in his lowest physical
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moment, his orientation was outward toward the other.
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That is a conviction for us. We often use our tiredness as a
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hall pass for selfishness. I've had a long day, don't talk
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to me. Jesus had a harder day than any
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of us, and he says bring them to me.
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That gut wrenching compassion is Blackness Day.
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I want to rolled down on that. You contrasted it with the
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Stoics. Why is that distinction so
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important for us today? I mean, we aren't really Stoics,
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are we? We might not call ourselves
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Stoics, but look at our culture. We value cool.
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We value detachment. We look at people who get overly
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emotional as weak. And in leadership, whether it's
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political or corporate, we want leaders who are unflappable,
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which often translates to unfeeling.
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Right. Never let them see you sweat.
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Exactly. We equate strength with an
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absence of emotion. That is true.
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If a leader cries, we get nervous.
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But here we have the King of the universe, and his defining
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characteristic in the face of need is a visceral internal
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upheaval. This tells us that God is not an
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iceberg. He is not a computer processing
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moral algorithms. He is a Father.
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He is a shepherd. When you suffer, he feels it.
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That just destroys the deist idea of a clockmaker God who
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wound up the universe and walked away.
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It also challenges the way we do ministry.
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The sources mentioned this seeker sensitive model.
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Can we talk about that more because that term gets thrown
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around a lot. What specifically is the
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critique here? Well, the critique isn't that we
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shouldn't care about seekers. Of course we should.
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The critique is about methodology.
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The disciples plan, Send them to the villages was a market based
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solution. Let them participate in the
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economy to solve their problem. The sequel sensitive movement
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often relies on market research. What do people want?
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They want short services, good coffee, relevant talks and good
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music. OK, let's buy those things.
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Let's provide those commodities. It is treating the church as a
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vendor of religious goods and services.
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That's it. And if the problem is people are
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bored, then entertainment is the solution.
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But if the problem is people are spiritually dead and starving,
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then a rock concert won't fix it.
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The disciples thought the problem was logistical hunger.
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Jesus knew the problem was that they needed Him.
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The pragmatist says what works. The faithful says who is here?
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Exactly. That only mindset really
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resonates with me. We have only 5 loaves.
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It's a statement of fact, but it's also a statement of
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limitation. It is a statement of worldview.
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It assumes a closed system. In a closed system of physics,
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you cannot get more energy out than you put in.
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Conservation of mass. 5 loaves in, 5 loaves out.
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But that's not our worldview. No.
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The Christian worldview is an open system.
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God can inject new reality into the system at any moment.
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So when we look at our church budget or our energy levels or
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our ability to forgive someone and we say I only have this much
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patience, we are acting like atheists in that moment.
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We are practicing functional atheism.
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We believe in God on Sunday, but on Monday when the crisis hits,
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we calculate like he doesn't exist.
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I only have this much money so I can't be generous.
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I only have this much time, so I can't serve.
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Jesus shatters the only. Let's talk about the miracle
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itself again. Gratio X nihilo.
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Why is it so important to insist this was a literal creation of
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matter? Why does it matter if it was
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just a miracle of sharing? Because a moral teacher who
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convinces people to share is nice, but he cannot save you
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from death. He cannot forgive sins.
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He cannot raise the dead. Right.
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If Jesus is just a persuasive speaker who guilt trip people
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into opening their lunch boxes, then he is no different than
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Gandhi or Doctor King or any other great moral leader.
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He would be a man of influence, but not a man of power.
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Correct. But if he can take atoms that do
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not exist and call them into existence.
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If he can bypass the wheat fields, the grinding of flour,
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the yeast, the baking, and create finished bread in his
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hands, then he is the Lord of creation.
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Colossians one says by him all things were created.
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This miracle proves that claim. If he has authority over matter,
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he has authority over disease. If he has authority over
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disease, he has authority over death.
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So if you lose the literal miracle, you lose the savior.
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You just keep the teacher. And a teacher cannot bear the
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wrath of God for your sins. Only the God man can do that.
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That is why the Westminster Confession is so adamant about
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God's power to work above means. It is guarding the deity of
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Christ. Detail about the orderliness.
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Sit down on the grass. Sources mentioned Psalm 23.
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He makes me lie down in green pastures.
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It is a direct visual link. In the middle of a chaotic,
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hungry mob, Jesus creates a garden scene.
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Peace, rest. The shepherd is present.
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Think about the contrast with a riot.
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When food is scarce, humans usually turn violent.
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Panic sets in. We have seen that on the news.
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Food trucks arrive in a disaster zone and it is chaos.
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But here there is calm. Why?
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Because the presence of the King brings Shalom.
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It brings comprehensive peace. He organizes them.
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He serves them. It shows that God is a God of
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order, not confusion. And the mediated ministry
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aspect, the disciples doing the work, the sources call them
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waiters. I think that is such a helpful
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image for anyone in ministry. It relieves the pressure,
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doesn't it? If I am a preacher, I don't have
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to come up with some brilliant new idea that will change lives.
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I just have to take the bread, the word of God that Jesus is
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already blessed and broken, and hand it to the people.
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It stops us from being innovators and frees us to be
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servants. And it also keeps us humble.
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The waiter doesn't get the applause for the chef's meal.
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If the steak is amazing, you don't compliment the guy who
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carried the plate, you compliment the one who prepared
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it right. The disciples couldn't say look
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at this bread we made. They could only say, look at
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this bread he gave. But they still had to walk, they
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still had to bend down, they still had to work.
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That is the Reformed doctrine of sanctification and service.
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Grace is monarchistic. God does it alone.
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But our response is active. We run the race.
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We fight the fight. We distribute the bread.
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We are not passive robots. We are active servants, fueled
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by a power that is not our own. Let's go back to leftovers.
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The sources mentioned the anti prosperity gospel angle.
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I want to unpack that because it's a subtle point.
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The prosperity gospel teaches that God's goal is your luxury,
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that faith is a mechanism to unlock material wealth for your
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own enjoyment. If that were true, Jesus would
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have turned the stones into gold, not just bread.
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He would have given them a banquet of delicacies, not just
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barley loaves and fish, which was the food of the poor.
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It was basic sustenance. It was sufficient, it was
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satisfying, but it was an extravagant in a worldly sense.
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The surplus, the 12 baskets wasn't so the disciples could
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hoard it. It was a testimony.
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It was evidence and notice. They gathered it.
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Gather up the broken pieces so that nothing may be lost.
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That is a command against waste. So the abundance of God doesn't
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give us a license to be wasteful.
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No, we are stewards. Even when the grace is
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overflowing, we treat it with respect.
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We value the provision. Section 6 brought up the Greater
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Moses and Greater Elisha themes. This is big for Reformed
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theology, covenant theology. How does this fit into the story
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of the Bible? The Bible is one story.
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It is not a collection of disconnected fables.
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It is the story of God redeeming a people.
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In the Old Testament. God redeems Israel from Egypt
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and feeds the manna in the wilderness.
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Moses prophesied in Deuteronomy 18.
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The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from
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among you. The Jews were waiting for the
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new Moses. So when Jesus goes to the
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wilderness and feeds people miraculously, he is basically
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holding up a sign saying it's me.
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That's right, He is identifying himself as the fulfillment of
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the prophecy. But he is greater than Moses.
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Moses didn't create the manna, He just told people where to
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find it. Jesus takes the bread in his own
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hands and multiplies it. Moses was a servant in God's
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house. Jesus is the Son over the house.
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And the Elisha connection. Elisha was a mighty prophet.
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In 2 Kings Four he feeds 100 men with 20 loaves.
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It was a miracle. But Jesus feeds 5000 with five
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loaves. The scale is exponentially
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higher. It shows that while Elisha had a
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portion of the Spirit, Jesus has the Spirit without measure.
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It is like looking at a blurry photo and then seeing the person
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in real life. Elisha was the blurry photo.
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Jesus is the reality. That is what we call typology.
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Elisha was a type or a shadow. Jesus is the substance.
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Now the contrast with Herod, that was a really dark but
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powerful point in the sources. The tale of two banquets.
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It is a literary masterpiece by Matthew.
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He puts these two stories right next to each other.
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Herod's banquet is the pinnacle of the city of man, power,
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wealth, lust, violence, and it ends with the death of the
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greatest prophet, John. It consumes people.
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The Kingdom of man always consumes its subjects to sustain
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the glory of the king, Herod sacrifices John to save his own
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face. And Jesus banquet.
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The Kingdom of God sacrifices the King to save the subjects.
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Here Jesus gives the bread. Later he gives his body.
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The banquet in the wilderness ends with life, health and
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satisfaction. It is the exact inverse.
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That is a profound diagnostic for us.
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Which Kingdom are we building? Are we building feasts that
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consume people, using people for our career, our ego?
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Or are we building feasts that nourish people?
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That is the application. If you are a manager, do you
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chew up your employees to hit your numbers?
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That is the Herod way. Or do you serve them and ensure
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they are flourishing? That is the Jesus way.
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Let's talk about the Law and gospel application again.
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I feel like we can make that really practical for the learner
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listening. The law exposes the send them
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away heart. Where do we see that in our
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daily lives? Oh, I see it in parenting.
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My kid comes to me with a complex emotional need or a
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conflict and I just want to put a screen in front of them, send
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them away to the iPad. I don't want to engage the mess.
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Or in marriage, yeah, your spouse wants to talk about
28:10
something heavy and you say, can we just watch a movie?
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Can we just not do this tonight? Or in our communities, we see
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homelessness, we see poverty. And our instinct is, I hope the
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government has a program for that.
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I hope there is a shelter nearby.
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We want the problem removed from our line of sight.
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That is the law crushing us because we realize we are
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selfish, we are pragmatic, we want comfort.
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And that is where we must not stop.
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If you stop at the law, you just despair.
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You just feel guilty. Enter the Gospel.
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The Gospel says bring that selfishness to me.
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Jesus doesn't say get your act together and then feed them.
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He says, come to me. We bring our failure to him.
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We say, Lord, I am a selfish parent.
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I am a lazy spouse. I have no compassion.
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And what does he do? He breaks us, blesses us and
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gives us what we need. He gives us His righteousness.
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He forgives the selfishness. And then, and this is the
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beautiful part, He uses us anyway.
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He used the disciples who tried to send the crowd away.
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He didn't fire them. He didn't say.
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Peter, you're out. Andrew, you're done.
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I'll get some new guys who actually care.
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He used the flawed instruments. That is the hope for us.
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We are the flawed instruments. We are the disciples holding the
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baskets, wondering how we got here.
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And the third use of the law, the guide.
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Now that we are forgiven, now that we are fed, what do we do?
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We imitate the master. We stop sending people away.
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We start inviting them in. We practice hospitality.
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We practice generosity not to earn salvation, but because we
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are so grateful for the bread we received.
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It changes the motivation from I have to to I get to.
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Spot on. I feed others because I have
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been fed. I want to spend a few minutes on
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that provocative thought regarding the stubbornness of
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our hearts. The sources mentioned that the
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disciples still struggled with faith later.
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Yes, in Matthew 16, just a couple of chapters later, they
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are in a boat again and they realize they forgot to bring
29:59
bread and they start panicking. We have no bread.
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Are you kidding me? They just saw him create bread
30:04
for thousands. They held the baskets and yet
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almost immediately they revert to the scarcity mindset.
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That makes me feel so much better about myself, honestly.
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It should comfort us all. It shows that faith is a fight.
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We are prone to amnesia. We forget God's faithfulness the
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moment a new crisis appears. We can have a spiritual
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mountaintop experience on Sunday and be in a pit of despair on
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Tuesday. So the lesson isn't have enough
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faith in you. Never worry.
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The lesson is you will worry and you will need the shepherd again
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and again. And the Shepherd doesn't
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abandoned them in Matthew 16 either.
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He is patient with our slow learning.
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That is why we call it reformed thinking.
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We are constantly being formed and reformed by the word.
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It is not a one time download. It is a lifelong process of
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having our minds renewed. And that connects to the bread
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of life discourse in John 6, doesn't it?
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The physical bread points to a spiritual reality.
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Yes, the crowd wanted to make him king because he filled their
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stomachs. Jesus had to clarify, do not
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work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to
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eternal life. He is the bread.
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If you eat the barley loaf, you will get hungry again in six
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hours. If you eat of Christ, if you
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trust in Him, you are satisfied eternally.
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So as we wrap up this extended analysis, let's look at the
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listener, the learner. They might be prepping for a
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meeting, or driving, or just sitting at home.
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What is the one thing they need to walk away with?
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They need to identify their desolate place.
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Where are you feeling empty? Where are your resources running
31:32
out? Your patience, Your bank
31:35
account, Your hope. And instead of running back to
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the village, back to the distractions, the quick fixes,
31:41
the numbing agents. Stay in the desolate place with
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Jesus. Bring the nothing you have to
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Him. It feels counterintuitive, it
31:48
feels risky. But that is where the miracle
31:51
happens. That is where the satisfaction
31:53
is found. It is the shift from I have to
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figure this out to he has already figured it out.
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That is the rest of the gospel. Well, this has been a journey
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from the grief of John's death to the abundance of the 12
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baskets. It really is more than just a
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picnic. It is the gospel and miniature,
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the King who provides. Thank you for unpacking this
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with us, and to you, the listener, thanks for diving
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deep. We hope this changes the way you
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read Matthew 14 and more importantly, the way you view
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your own only's. Indeed, look to the king.
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Until next time on reformed thinking.