“Compassion for Everyone”
On Sunday, we heard the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. It was actually a lot more than that, according to the text, as there were women and children there as well. In order to understand this story, it is important to look at who these people were in the crowd and what was going on with Jesus at the time.
Most likely, the crowd was made up of the poor people of Galilee. They were the ones who had little or no healthcare and barely enough food for their families to survive. They were not Roman citizens and so had no say in public policy. Most were the desperate poor and powerless living on the margins of the Roman Empire. They came to Jesus because he provided the healthcare that they needed. He healed just about everything imaginable: illnesses, injuries, mental and spiritual sicknesses. They also came because Jesus offered them words of hope—words which were an alternative to what the Empire provided.
Jesus had just gone home to Nazareth after a very successful tour where he preached and healed. However, he was not welcome at home. He must have felt deep disappointment and rejection. He also knew that his enemies were planning on killing him and had just killed his cousin John. Knowing he was not welcome at home, Jesus went out on a boat to find a place to be alone in his grief and rejection. However, the crowds were already there when he arrived, and so he healed them for the rest of the day.
When dinnertime came along, Jesus’ disciples pointed out the time of time and encouraged him to send the crowds home to eat. But Jesus, who had compassion for the people, decided to feed them himself, with the help of the disciples. Though the disciples claimed to only have two fish and five loaves of bread. In other words, “There is only enough for us.” Nevertheless, Jesus blessed the fish and loaves and had the disciples distribute them among the crowd. When dinner was over, it turned out that there was more than enough. Everyone had their fill and the disciples collected twelve baskets of leftovers.
The lesson here is that when it comes to compassion, there is always enough for everyone. May we look around us this week and notice the people who need compassion…and may we share some of ours with them.
Kahu Alan Akana
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“A Message from Kahu Alan Akana” is provided most weeks by the Kahu (Pastor) of Koloa Union Church, a congregation of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a member of the Kauai Association and Hawaii Conference.
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