Gospel Reading: St. Matthew 15:32-39 - Jesus feeds the Four Thousand

1. Jesus heals (verses 29-31).

2. Jesus feeds (verses 32-39).

Verses 29-31 speak about the breadth of Jesus’ healing ministry -- how He healed the multitudes. Matthew writes, "And departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up to the mountain, He was sitting there. And great multitudes came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, dumb, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them, so that the multitude marveled as they saw the dumb speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel" (Matt. 15:29-31). This ought to sound familiar, because Matthew has already given us six other statements like this in the book of Matthew, where he has squeezed a few verses speaking about the extent of Jesus' ministry in between narrative sections. There are two more occasions in which he does this as well. [1]

Also familiar to us are verses 32-39, which speak about Jesus feeding the multitudes. Matthew writes, "And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, 'I feel compassion for the multitude, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not wish to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.' And the disciples said to Him, 'Where would we get so many loaves in a desolate place to satisfy such a great multitude?' And Jesus said to them, 'How many loaves do you have?' And they said, 'Seven, and a few small fish.' And He directed the multitude to sit down on the ground; and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples in turn, to the multitudes. And they all ate, and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. And sending away the multitudes, He got into the boat, and came to the region of Magadan" (Matthew 15:32-39). Many of the details here are almost identical to what took place in Chapter 14 and verses 13-21, when Jesus fed the 5,000. This week, I put the narratives side by side and counted up 11 different things that are exactly the same in these two accounts. [2]

And so, because of the familiarity of these accounts, many preachers have chosen to go over these verses quickly, assigning them as a final sub-point of a sermon. Everything in my heart cries out, "Not so fast." I believe that narratives are included for a reason. I believe that they instruct us exactly where we need to be instructed. And I’m not willing to relegate this passage to a final sub-point of a sermon. As the spirit of God has inspired His word to include these things in the book of Matthew on several occasions, I believe that we need to hear this message again. They deserve our fullest attention.

And so, this morning, we are going to go through some Scripture passages that may sound familiar to you. They sound familiar because they are! We have heard of Jesus healing the multitudes on six different occasions already. We have heard of Jesus feeding the multitudes only six weeks ago. And so the challenge of my message this morning isn’t going to be some great new truth or some great new insight. The challenge of my message this morning for you is to believe and apply what you have heard before and what you will hear again this morning. It’s like the story of the new pastor of a church, which has been told often. Indeed, I have heard it told by some in our own congregation. On his first Sunday, the congregation gathered excitedly and expectantly. Everyone was suitably impressed afterward with his sermon. "My, how well he spoke," remarked one. "A superb sermon to be sure," said another. A third chimed in, "If he keeps this up we're in for a treat." On the following week he preached exactly the same sermon. The people were puzzled, but generously surmised that it had probably been too busy a week to prepare a new sermon. After all, he was moving into a new house and meeting all the people. Yet he preached the original sermon the following week as well, and the week after that. The people were very concerned, and the church leadership decided it was time to confront their new pastor. They met him after the service and asked whether he had any other sermons or whether he planned to preach the same one for his entire ministry. "I certainly hope not," said the pastor, "I plan to begin a new one as soon as you start putting the first sermon into practice."

As familiar as my message might be this morning, remember that it would have been familiar to the disciples as well. The disciples needed this sermon twice, and they still didn’t get it. Our text breaks down nicely into two sections. The first is found in verses 29-31 in which Jesus heals the multitudes. The second is found in verses 32-39 in which Jesus feeds the multitudes. I have entitled my message, "Miracles for the Multitudes." This morning, we need to see Jesus in all of His power, splendor, and authority. We need to taste and feel once again what it must have been like for the disciples to witness Jesus heal thousands of people. We need to understand what actually took place when Jesus fed thousands of people. We need to be reminded of the power and authority of Jesus.

1. Jesus heals (verses 29-31).

We are going to pull three observations from these three verses. One from each verse. My aim is to expand your understanding and love for Jesus by seeing His power.

When Jesus heals, ...

a. He heals without announcement (verse 29).

Look at verse 29, "And departing from there, Jesus went along by the Sea of Galilee, and having gone up to the mountain, He was sitting there." Mark gives us more precision about where Jesus went on this occasion. He records that Jesus went into the region of Decapolis, which is along the eastern border of the Sea of Galilee (Mark 7:31). This is gentile territory. We are told that Jesus went "up to the mountain" (verse 29). Let’s face it, you don’t see many people up high on the mountain. This is somewhat the point. He wasn’t seeking a crowd. He was in an obscure place. Those who wanted to be healed would have to make great effort to come to Him.

How different this is from the faith healers of our own day. When they have their healing meetings, they often announce months beforehand where they will be. And they always go to the biggest of cities, where there are many, many people. I have never heard of a miracle crusade taking place in some obscure little town in Montana. But, this is what Jesus did. In the past month or two, I have received five different computer-generated phone calls highlighting some upcoming miracle crusades. The healing ministry of Jesus was vastly different. The miracles of Jesus were so compelling that He could go up into the mountainside to a desolate region without announcement and there attract a crowd of 4,000 people. The ministry of Jesus was powerful.

When Jesus heals, ...

b. He heals everybody (verse 30).

If you were brought to Jesus for healing, you were healed. You never came away from His presence sick. Verse 30, "And great multitudes came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, dumb, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them." When Matthew writes that Jesus "healed them," he is referring to those who were brought to Jesus. The lame, who had to be carried to Jesus, were healed. The crippled, who had to be helped to Jesus, were healed. The blind, who had to be guided to Jesus, were healed. The dumb, who had to be brought to Jesus, were healed. The "many others," who had various other diseases, were healed.

People simply didn’t leave the presence of Jesus unhealed. In Matthew 4:23, it says, that He was "healing every disease and every affliction among the people" (ESV). They brought to Him, "all who were ill ... demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them" (verse 24). Matthew 8:16, "He healed all who were ill." Matthew 12:15, "many followed Him, and He healed them all." If you just touched the fringe of His cloak, you were healed (Matt. 14:36). The ministry of Jesus was powerful. If you know even a little bit about the healing ministries today, you know that this isn't the case. Many who come sick, return sick.

When Jesus heals,

c. He heals completely (verse 31).

Verse 31 reads, "the multitude marveled as they saw the dumb speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing." Those who couldn’t speak before they came to Jesus could speak when they left the presence of Jesus. Those who had withered arms or legs before they came to Jesus had fully functioning arms and legs when leaving. Those who couldn’t walk before they came to Jesus would take up their bed and walk home. Those who needed a guide to find Jesus because they couldn’t see, no longer needed a guide, because they could see.

We have seen examples of these types of miracles already in the gospel of Matthew. Turn back to chapter 9. At the beginning of the chapter, a paralytic was brought to Jesus. This man couldn’t walk, and so he needed to be brought by his friends. In verse 6, Jesus says, "'Rise, take up your bed, and go home.' And he rose, and went home." He was completely healed. In verse 27, we find two blind men following after Jesus saying, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" He then asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" they said, "Yes, Lord" (verse 28). So, Jesus touched their eyes and they could see. In verse 32, a dumb man was brought to Jesus. After Jesus cast the demon from this dumb man, the man spoke. Turn over to chapter 12. In verse 10, a man with a withered hand was brought to Jesus. After a bit of discussion, Jesus restored his hand "to normal."

You have to catch the extent of Jesus’ healing. We have some people in our congregation who are sick with some of these diseases. I think of one woman who many of you know, who has had a good portion of her left leg amputated and has been confined to a wheel chair for more that ten years. Her hands have been deformed because of rheumatoid arthritis. If she were one of this multitude that came to Jesus, Jesus would have created a new leg for her, restored her hands to normal, and given her the strength to walk. She would come to church next Sunday in standing upright. I think of another man in our church, who was born with a hearing problem. He was up front at the beginning of the service, calling us to worship. Recently, he has had a cochlear implant to help him hear. It has helped, but it hasn’t fully solved his hearing difficulties. If he had been among the multitude that came to Jesus, he would have left with perfect hearing and understanding. We don’t have any blind people in our church, but just imagine those who you know who are blind being blind no more. Perhaps some names like Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles come to mind. Imagine Christopher Reeve or Joni Erickson Tada walking once again. This was commonplace in the time of Jesus.

The multitudes saw what Jesus was doing, and they were totally amazed. They understood that Jesus was doing something entirely miraculous. They could see new limbs that were formed. They could see people walk who clearly couldn’t walk before. They saw people who had never spoken before in their life begin speaking fluently and clearly. They saw how the blind people could now see. Verse 31 says that "the multitude marveled" as they saw these things take place. They marveled because the miracles were evident. The verse also says, "they glorified the God of Israel." Remember earlier that I said that this was gentile territory? You have gentiles glorifying the God of Israel.

This is our application this morning: Worship Jesus! I have labored with these verses to attempt to demonstrate exactly how powerful Jesus was. He healed without announcement. He healed everybody. He healed completely. Jesus didn’t walk the planet as a weak, sentimental little man. He walked the planet as a very powerful man who could heal anybody who came to Him. He is worthy of all of our worship. Rock Valley Bible Church, let’s be about worshiping Jesus!