Big Faith when you have Big Problems
Matthew 14:13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food." 16 Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." 17 "We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered. 18 "Bring them here to me," he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
The other day I was reading an article about the famine and drought conditions taking place on the other side of the world, in Africa. Have any of you been following that story? It really is quite sad. An estimated 11 million people in Somalia and countries in eastern Africa are at risk of starvation. The reason why is because there has been no rain there for a long long time – the worst drought in a generation, some news reports say. The sad thing is, there is plenty of food in the world to help these people. But our world is sinful, which means that human selfishness and corruption stand in the way of everyone getting fed. News reports describe Somalia’s government as very corrupt, resisting outside groups from coming in to distribute food. It seems like a problem that is too big for anyone to fix.
There are lots of problems like that in the world today, aren’t there? Problems too big for anyone to fix. Earlier this month the problem of the national debt was debated. It’s a big problem. Is it too big for anyone to fix? Do you have any problems that are so big, they seem unfixable? A relationship that has gone bad? Not enough money? Healthy problems that don’t go away? Have you ever had a problem that seemed too big for anyone to fix?
This morning, we’re going to look at Jesus, and his miracle of the feeding of the 5000. We are going to learn how we can have a Big Faith, even as we experience Big Problems in our world. A Christian can have hope and confidence and joy and optimism, no matter how big the problem is in his life. May God give us those blessings as we study of his Word today.
In Matthew 14, we see Jesus, spending time with his disciples in a remote, solitary place, somewhere way up in the hills surrounding the Sea of Galilee. People heard that Jesus was there, and soon a crowd began to gather around him. And as the day went on, the crowd grew and grew, from a few hundred to thousands and thousands of people. Many of these people ran to Jesus because they had medical problems – diseases, illness, deformities, sicknesses – problems too big for anyone to handle – and there in those hills Jesus healed them – no problem was too big for Jesus to handle.
Then the disciples came to Jesus with a big problem – we’re in the middle of nowhere, and thousands of people are getting hungry – send them away, so that they can go and buy food. The people needed to eat, but the people didn’t want to leave Jesus – a big problem. What was Jesus’ answer? “YOU give them something to eat.”
Are you kidding me? How can we do that? All we have here are 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. That’s all we have. Do you see what the disciples were missing? Is that all they really had, as they faced this big problem? Nothing except a little basket of bread and fish? That’s not all they had, is it? What else did they have? Besides that little basket of food, they had Jesus, the Son of God, standing right next to them. The same Jesus who was miraculously healing diseases 5 minutes ago – he was with them – the same Jesus they had seen who had cast out demons, the same Jesus they had seen who raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead – this same Jesus was right there, with them. “All we have are 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish” – not true. Jesus was also right there with them, and that changes everything.
Don’t we sometimes forget that, as we face our big problems in life? We forget that Jesus is with us. I am with you always, Jesus says. I will never leave you, never forsake you, Jesus says. We believe, but then a big problem comes into our lives, and then we forget. This problem I have – it’s too big for me to handle. All I have is a high school diploma. All I have is barely enough money to live on. All I have is my family and a few friends. All I have are 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. How can I face my big problems? How can I make a difference in the world? How can I do anything? I don’t have enough!” Have you ever felt that or thought that?
None of it’s true! Yes, as Christians we face big problems in our lives. The world is filled with one big problem after another. The TV will never run out of bad news to share. But we can approach every problem, no matter how big it is, with big faith. Because we have Jesus. The all-loving, all-powerful Son of God, standing right there next to us, looking at the same big problems we are looking at.
Look at what Jesus does here, in Matthew 14. He forgives the disciples for their small-mindedness, their forgetfulness of his power and love, their lack of faith. Bring the basket of food to me, Jesus told them. Then Jesus took charge. He told the people to sit down. The Bible says that he looked up to heaven as he blessed the little amount of food that was there, and then he gave food to the disciples, and they gave food to the people. And notice how much Jesus provided. It wasn’t barely enough to take away the hunger pains. It wasn’t barely enough for the women and children. Everyone had plenty to eat, to the point of feeling full, and there were even leftovers that the disciples went out and picked up. We call this miracle the feeding of the 5000, but that was only the number of men. When you throw in the number of women and children that were there, perhaps there were 10, 15, 20 thousand people that were actually fed.
Jesus wanted his disciples to know that they could face the big problems of life with big faith. Jesus wants us to know that too. He forgives us for all the times we forget about him. Just think about what Jesus has done with our sins – it was the biggest problem you and I have ever faced… to offend the Almighty God with our sins of doubt, with our lack of trust – but even this problem is not too big for Jesus to handle. He took our sins to the cross and paid for them by sacrificing his life. He faced the problem of death by rising from the tomb, changing what happens to us at the moment of death. Because of this same Jesus, who is with us today, right now, we can face our big problems with big faith that he is with us and will bless us in all that we do.
The disciples never pictured themselves walking around with baskets, feeding thousands of people way up in the hills, in the middle of nowhere. But with Jesus, anything is possible. What about you? Can you picture yourself in heaven someday? It will happen. Can you picture yourself facing big problems you head-on? No problem in your life is too big for Jesus to handle. No problem in this world is too big for Jesus to handle. He’s right here with us, and he can do anything. Sometimes, he can even cause us to do things that you or I never thought we’d ever be doing.
May God bless us with big faith as we face big problems in our lives, and in our world. May we see Jesus, in the background of every problem we face, and may we trust him to bless us, and work through us, in all things, Amen.
