Jump Start # 1471

Matthew 16:9 Do you not yet understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up?

  Matthew 16 is an important chapter, they all are! It is here that Peter makes the great confession about Christ. It is here that Jesus introduces the concept of the church. It is here that the line of authority going to the apostles is expressed. It is also here that Jesus tells the disciples that He will killed and raised up on the third day. It is here where Peter rebukes Jesus for saying that and the Lord telling Peter, “Get behind Me Satan.” It’s a packed chapter. Great stuff. Powerful lessons.

One lesson that is overlooked with all the other great things going on in this chapter is the forgetfulness of the disciples. They launch out to cross the sea. Jesus and the twelve are in the boat. Jesus begins to warn them about the Pharisees and the influence of the Pharisees. The twelve realize that they forgot to bring any food. Mark tells us that they had one loaf of bread among them. Jesus is teaching some very important principles. The disciples are not listening. They are talking among themselves about food. How typical. How close this sounds to us. More worried about our bellies than anything else, they stopped listening to Jesus. It is here that our verse is found. This story is repeated in both Mark’s and Luke’s Gospel. We don’t have anything to eat. What are we going to do?

Our verse has Jesus reminding them of what had happened so recently. A large crowd had gathered, more than 5,000 people. Jesus told the disciples to feed them. All they could find was a kid’s snack—a few dried fish and some bread. But with that, the Lord fed the 5,000 until they were satisfied and the left overs filled twelve baskets. If that is not impressive enough, shortly after that he nearly repeated the same miracle by feeding 4,000. And here in the boat they have twelve disciples and one loaf. More than that, they have Jesus. That’s the point. He will take care of them. He has proven what He can do. He has shown His power. He can change substance, such as making water into wine. He can multiply food. Why worry, they have Jesus.

Most concerning, it seems to Jesus is that they forgot. His words, “Do you not yet understand or remember…” Jesus would not allow them to drown in a storm. He would not allow Peter to down in the sea. He would not allow them to go hungry. He would take care of them. This was a trust issue. Remembering builds trust. Forgetting opens the door to doubt, fear and unsettling thoughts.

Yet, are these twelve not you and I? Bellies first, souls second. Thinking about food when we ought to be listening. Forgetting the things that Jesus has done for us. Forgetting.

Part of our worship on Sundays is to take the Lord’s Supper. The words on most tables state the Lord’s principle, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” Remember Me. I wonder, if we did not have the Lord’s Supper each week, if we would tend to forget? I wonder if our thoughts would gravitate to our bellies, our needs, our jobs, our homes, our happiness and we would forget that the Lord has taken care of us. The Lord has been there for us. The Lord has answered prayers for us. The Lord has forgiven us. Remember? Have we forgotten?

The look back helps with the look forward. It is when we forget what the Lord has done in the past that we get unsure and we feel alone and helpless. The Lord is with us. Do you remember any of your prayers from last year? Praying for the kids? Praying for health of babies and friends? Praying for jobs? Praying for parents? Did the Lord answer any of those prayers in a way that you wanted? Do you remember? Do you remember encouragement from Scriptures? Maybe you were down. Maybe things were not going well. Some one shared a passage that seemed to be written just for you. My it helped back them. It got you back on your feet again. It reminded you that God is merciful. It reminded you that God loves. It reminded you that God wasn’t finished with you.

We forget. We get in that boat with the twelve and we start complaining about food. We forget that the Lord is with us. We forget that the Lord will help us. If we could only remember. If those twelve disciples only remembered. Imagine the story if Peter, it would be Peter first, in a panic mode, cried out that we have nothing to eat. Imagine Andrew pulling out the one loaf. Andrew was the one who found the kid with the fish and bread. Andrew has bread. The rest say, “that’s not enough.” The boat rocks with misery and complaints. John looks to Jesus and says, “But we have Jesus.” Immediately, everyone remembers. That didn’t happen in the Gospel but it could happen to you.

Remember. Remember what you learned yesterday in worship. Remember the songs you sang in praise. Remember the prayers offered. Remember the hope. Remember the many faces that gathered to praise. Your Monday goes smoother when you put a little bit of Sunday into it. Don’t forget. Don’t toss out yesterday. Our journeys can seem a lot longer and a lot more difficult when we forget that Jesus is with us.

Simple thoughts—I hope they help you today.

Roger

Jump Start # 676

Matthew 16:9 “Do you not understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up?”

Yesterday we looked at the feeding of the five thousand. A powerful miracle that illustrated the compassion and power of God. Our verse today takes place shortly after that. Jesus and the disciples get into a boat to cross the sea. Matthew reveals that they forgot to take any bread. As Jesus is teaching, the disciples are not listening. They are discussing the lack of food. Jesus is feeding the soul and the disciples are talking about their bellies.

Our verse is a rebuke from the Lord. These very disciples were part of the miracle of feeding the 5,000. They had not heard about it, they were there. They participated in feeding the crowd. They saw what Jesus did. They knew what He could do. Somehow they failed to connect that event to their trip in the boat. Couldn’t Jesus do it again? Did they forget?

From where we stand, the disciples seem a bit shallow and slow. It’s easy to see that in others. The problem is we can stand right with them. We forget past prayers that God answered. We forget blessings that God has graciously given us. We forget sins that have been forgiven. We get in a place, and there is no bread and we feel alone, helpless and desperate.

Some people seem to go from one crisis to the next. There seems to be very little calm in their schedule. They are on the edge of their faith about to go over a waterfall.

Jesus reminded them of the many baskets full of bread that the disciples picked up. What happened to those baskets? Had they eaten them already? Did they give them to others? Why pick them up? Why twelve—one for each disciple? Did Jesus see this day and tried to build faith in them?

Our failure to remember spiritual help and blessings cripples us like it did the disciples. Prayers offered in emergencies…the plea for help with prodigals…the broken hearts that beg for mercy…the dark clouds and the valleys full of shadows makes us reach out to the Lord. But then we pass through those periods. The sun comes back out. Everything looks good once again. We tend to forget. Maybe the pain and fear of those times are things that we do not want to remember. We cannot forget what good the Lord has done for us.

We sing, “count your many blessings, name them one by one.” That helps. It also helps to remember that God carried you through the dark days. You and I, like the disciples forget. We forget to bring bread for the journey. We forget how to find our way home. When the belly growls we are reminded. When the soul becomes worried we are reminded.

The disciples were not alone in the boat. Neither are we. They had Jesus, the very one who multiplied the bread. We have Jesus, the very one who blesses, forgives and helps. I wonder if the disciples picked at one another for forgetting the bread. I wonder if they played the blame game. We do that. We can be good at giving others guilt. One writer said that guilt is the gift that keeps on giving. “No bread. You were supposed to bring bread.” “Not, I.” Or, “I always have to get bread.” “Why don’t you bring some?” Sounds familiar, doesn’t it. These very disciples would later fuss at one another about who was the greatest. It seemed that they forgot again.

You’ve seen the slogan, “Got milk.” Got Jesus is what we get from this. Not to take care of our bellies, but to take care of our souls. Trust. He’s there. Don’t worry. Don’t fear.

Do you not understand, is what Jesus asked them. They didn’t. Let’s hope we do.

Roger