John 6:5 says, “When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”
The great company that Jesus lifted up His eyes and looked upon consisted of about 5,000 men and their families. Jesus not only was about to feed them; He had also healed their sick. We see this in Matthew’s gospel; “And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14).
Before Jesus multiplied the bread and the fish, He gave thanks for five loaves and two fish (John 6:11). When all had eaten, Jesus had the disciples gather up the leftovers that nothing should be lost. This miracle would never have happened if Jesus didn’t have compassion on other people’s hunger.
While traveling in Jerusalem, our rabbi told us to walk in single file through the crowd. We needed to stay close to the person in front of us so that our group would not get separated. He also said that there would be children begging and we were not to give them anything lest they swarm us. My mother couldn’t help herself. These little children had so little. It broke her heart. She tossed them money as we went by.
I stumbled upon a hymn one morning that I have never heard sung in church. “Let Your Heart Be Broken,” by Bryan Jeffery Leech and James Mountain got a grip on me. Verse one reads, “Let your heart be broken for a world in need. Feed the mouths that hunger. Soothe the wounds that bleed. Give the cup of water and the loaf of bread. Be the hands of Jesus, serving in His stead.”
I went to church with my cousin, Mike, one day. He had found Jesus and was so thankful. The church was vibrant and alive. They had a food ministry in which Mike was very much involved. They were meeting in a school auditorium. After the service, everyone was invited to get free loaves of bread if they needed them. This was only a small part of their ministry. They had a massive food program for the hungry. They had homes for recovering drug addicts. It was truly a New Testament church. It was made up of people whose hearts had been broken. They knew what it was like to be hungry.
The sharing of food is not only for family at Thanksgiving time. Jesus had much to say in the rest of John chapter 6 about bread. John 6:26 states, “Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.”
In verse 48 He said, “I am the bread of life.” It is true, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Jesus went without food for forty days. He knows all about our hungers. He denied Himself that we might eat the true Bread of Life. At the end of John 6, Jesus invited His disciples to eat of His flesh and drink of His blood. John 6:66 says, “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”
The compassionate heart of Jesus was revealed in the Garden of Gethsemane when He sweat as it were great drops of blood (Luke 22:44) from a broken heart that loved the world of hungry lost sinners.
Jesus, break our hearts today, that we will know the joy of true thanksgiving!
