On this glorious day of worship, I invite you to open your Bible to the book of Matthew 14:13-21. We have already had the passage read to us and I hope you are looking forward to the message that God has for us in this passage.
I have been looking forward to this message, not so much that I’ve wanted to preach it—but by how it has spoken to me.
This passage shows us a blessed picture of our wonderful Savior. It demonstrates the humanness of Christ as it mixes in the deity of Christ. I am a face value kind of person. And, frankly, until this week—I’ve only looked at this passage as an example of the miracles that Jesus performed. And I must admit that I completely missed the power that is in this passage.
So, this morning, I want to take a couple of moments to examine this passage in light of who Jesus is.
In this passage, we see that he is a:
1. Tender Savior.
2. A Compassionate Savior.
3. And a Benevolent Savior.
Let’s look at Matthew 14.
Matthew 14 begins with the story of how John the Baptist was killed. John the Baptist was imprisoned and put to death simply because he was exposing the sin of Herod’s brother, Philip, and the trickery of Philip’s wife.
I would love to camp out here and discuss the conviction of John the Baptist. He is killed because he spoke the truth.
And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus. (Mt. `14:12, ESV)
And when they did tell Jesus, they found
1. A Tender Savior.
Matthew 14:13 says;
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. (Mt 14:13, ESV)
When Jesus heard about John the Baptist, Jesus needed to step away. We have all been in those situations. We hear bad news about someone that we care about and our heart is broken. The tender heart of Jesus hurt over what had just happened. I don’t think this should be missed. This little act of him withdrawing to get a moment to himself gives us a look at the humanity of Christ. We forget that while Jesus is fully God, he is also fully man. Too often we look too much at the man who can feed five thousand with five loaves and two fish that we forget that there is a man there hurting for the loss over a friend.
We see this several places in the New Testament. This is most notably demonstrated in the death and resurrection of Lazarus. John 11:32-35 tells the story:
32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. (Jn 11:32-35, ESV)
He wept with Mary—touched by the grief that he saw. The rest of the story tells of Jesus walking into the tomb, speaking to Lazarus—commanding him to “Come Forth.”
We also see his tenderness displayed when Jesus approached Jerusalem following the triumphal entry.
In Luke 19:41, Luke writes;
41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, (Lk 19:41, ESV)
His tenderness is unmatched. He is moved by our actions and our tragedies. Jesus loves each of us very much. And he is moved when we are hurting.
And Jesus wants us to go to him when we are hurt. He says to us;
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Mt. 11:28, ESV)
He desires to give us rest.
He is a tender Savior.
And he is;
2. A compassionate Savior.
Look with me at Matthew 14:14;
14 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. (Mt 14:14, ESV)
Jesus steps off the boat where he sees a great crowd and has compassion for them. He sees that they need him. They need his healing. They need his presence.
At this point, he was tired, emotional, and simply wants to be alone. But, Jesus has compassion on these people and begins to heal their sick.
Webster’s dictionary defines compassion to be a;
“sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it”
This is Jesus. He sees the great multitude of people and all of their problems, ailments, and issues and has a deep desire to alleviate the problems from them.
We see Jesus doing this often. Luke 9 describes it this way;
35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Mt. 9:35-38, ESV)
It is through his compassion that he desires for us to serve others. We are to extend compassion to others. This is why missions, evangelism, and outreach events are so important—because he has compassion for all.
He went out through city after city to serve them. To find those who needed his help.
Do you need his help today? You may be going through a tough time. You may have had a death in the family or and illness. We need to rely on the compassion of Christ.
People tell me frequently that they need to try religion. The problem with that is—religion cannot do anything for you. Religion is worthless with out the person of Jesus Christ—who has compassion.
In this, He pleads with us to trust in Him.
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (Jn 7:37, ESV)
Do you have living water flowing this morning? Trust in Christ. This compassionate savior loves you and will give you the living water you seek. But, you must trust in him.
He is a
1. Tender Savior,
2. a Compassionate Savior,
3. He is also a benevolent savior.
Matthew 14: 15 tells the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand;
15 Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. (Matthew 14:13-21, ESV)
Jesus gave food to those who needed food. He was benevolent. This demonstration of benevolence was demonstrated other times during his life on earth.
In Matthew 15, he does a similar miracle by feeding four thousand.
In John 2, he provides the wine for the wedding party.
And in John 6, Jesus declares;
… “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (Jn 6:35, ESV)
He is a benevolent savior; “marked by or disposed to doing good” as Webster’s Dictionary would say.
Benevolent describes Christ. He continually was doing good for those around him. He was healing, feeing, and teaching.
Now, when I look at this passage—I don’t see the miracle. I see the Christ, a benevolent giver of good things to his people. We speak so much about how he loves us and died to pay for our sin—which is important. But Jesus also came that we might have life and have it abundantly, if we trust in Him.
The Bible says;
7 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (Jm 1:7, ESV)
Jesus is a giver of good gifts and we can trust in him with all of life’s problems and heartaches.
He truly is;
1. A Tender Savior
2. A Compassionate Savior
3. And a Benevolent Savior.
Jesus loves each one of us. And goes to great lengths to help us along.
Our prayer needs to reflect the words of the old hymn which reads;
Savior, like a shepherd lead us, much we need Thy tender care;
In Thy pleasant pastures feed us, for our use Thy folds prepare.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! Thou hast bought us, Thine we are.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! Thou hast bought us, Thine we are.
We do need his precious care, but we must trust in him all along the way.
Do you know Jesus today? Are you experiencing the full and meaningful life that Christ can offer you?
You can if you trust in him.
He is a loving savior that suffered and died for you to receive eternal life.
Jesus died in our place because of our sin. We are all dirty sinners without Christ. The punishment for that sin is death, but Jesus paid it all for you. He paid the sin debt for you.
The news has had a lot to say about our national debt recently. It would be nice for it all to simply go away.
We are in debt because of our sin and we must pay for it with our lives. But, Jesus paid the debt for us. We simply must accept it.
And you can accept him right where you are. Jesus is tender—he knows what you are going through. He hurts with you. Jesus is compassionate—he looks out at this congregation today and sees hurting people who need him and he stands ready to heal and to help. And Jesus is benevolent—always ready to give to those in need.
This is a Savior that I believe in him and he invites you to believe in him as well.
Let us pray.
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This sermon was preached at Memorial Chapel, Fort Lee, VA on 31July2011. All scripture marked ESV: The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.