Quest 52Sample

Can Jesus Provide for My Needs Today?

Jesus and his disciples needed some time to regroup. They headed off to Bethsaida, an out-of-the-way village the Bible describes as “a desolate place” (Mark 6:31). But when Jesus arrived, he was greeted by an anxious crowd over five thousand strong. 

There are so many things I respect about Jesus, but none more than what he did in this moment. Perhaps it’s because I know how cranky I get when I’m overexposed to people’s demands. Yet Jesus, in the jaws of a clamoring crowd, “had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). 

Jesus responded with three actions. First, he taught them (Mark 6:34). Their most immediate need was not physical but spiritual. Second, he healed them (Matthew 14:14), which was likely their immediate concern. Third, he fed them, which no one expected. Though all this is literal, it’s also spiritually symbolic.

The feeding of the five thousand portrays Jesus as Creator God, making something from nothing (Genesis 1:1). Whether it is instruction to make you mature, healing to make you secure, or feeding to help you endure, Jesus is the manna you need day by day. 

The real question is not merely whether Jesus can provide for your needs. That seems fairly straightforward: yes. The real question is whether you have fed on him. Have you taken advantage of his sustenance so that you are now able to teach others, heal others, or feed others? As followers of Christ, our goal is not simply to glean from him but to make him known so others can have those same spiritual resources.

That little boy surely was aware that what he offered was insufficient to satisfy the monstrous needs of the clamoring crowd. However, his radical generosity, his total sacrifice of the little he had to Jesus, was sufficient to generate a miracle so significant that all four gospel writers would repeat it. No other miracle prior to the Resurrection can make such a claim. 

What you have right now is enough. Give it to Jesus and he can multiply it miraculously. He never needs what you have, but he can always multiply what you offer to meet needs in a way you never imagined. 

Are you spiritually hungry right now? How are you feeding on Jesus? How are you introducing others to Jesus’s sustenance?