The Hospitable Leader DevotionalExemplo

In today’s passage, Jesus was doing something much more than just feeding people. The deep meaning entailed in his hospitality cannot be overlooked. To start, Jesus was clearly concerned to provide enough food for the people in the crowd. He ended up enacting a miracle of multiplication in order to provide plenty for all. However, this wasn’t just to satisfy their appetites, but to represent something much deeper about his purpose and mission. First of all, it’s likely that Jesus was symbolizing and paralleling himself to the time when God brought the Jewish people out of exile in the wilderness earlier in history. God miraculously provided food, and it showed his provision for those who were faithful to him. Jesus was similarly showing that he was the source of provision, bringing those who were faithful into a new era of fulfillment.

However, in both the Old Testament story of the manna and in this new wilderness story, both groups of people didn’t get the bigger picture that was intended by the hospitality. The Jewish people in the Old Testament quickly rebelled against God, even after he provided for them. And the New Testament followers of Jesus wanted to follow him only because he provided food for their empty stomachs. Jesus had to clearly explain that his ultimate purpose was not the state of their stomachs (though he cared about that deeply), but to offer them the bread that would bring true life. The actual bread they consumed was important, but it alluded to the life-sustaining bread that Jesus would bring.

Jesus used the bread as a means of bringing the people to his table, but also as a means to allude to the bigger missional picture going on. Similarly, in our lives, we often have to note the needs of the people in front of us and fill them up on bread so their stomachs aren’t growling. But, we know that the bread isn’t the point: We’re bringing them to the table so that we can come together and do something really important. When you detach the hospitality from the mission, the hospitality is useless; if you detach the mission from the hospitality, people are less likely to follow you. Both are key parts of God’s plan.