The Kingdom Movement

A Literary & Pastoral Study Guide to the Gospel of Matthew

The Inspiration of Matthew,

by Caravaggio

On the King's Errand

Devotional Reflections on Matthew's Gospel

Learning How Jesus Plans for Growth:  Mt.14:13 – 14  

^14:13 Now when Jesus heard about John, he withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴ When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.

The quiet moment was over:  time to bring the boat to shore.  The sound of waves lapping against the side of the boat gave way to the sound of voices being carried over the water.  ‘Is that him?’  ‘Can he hear us?’  ‘Hey, Jesus, is that you?’ 

So Jesus went ashore.  At that point, he saw more and more people coming over the hills, streaming up to meet him.  He saw his disciples, like deer in headlights, not knowing what to do with all the people.  ‘Well, yes, we are his followers.’  ‘Yes, he’s here, but…’  ‘Oy vei, how did you all know where to find us?’  ‘Say, are there any soldiers following you?’

We might be tired, skeptical or nervous.  We might be at the library needing to get some other work done.  We might be at home passing the time alone.  Yet those moments come when people are present, needing help, and looking for Jesus.  The phone rings.  The knock comes.  The person lets out a heavy sigh after you ask, ‘How’s it going?’ telling you that everything is not okay.  What’s helpful to remember during those times?

Certainly a key reminder is that Jesus ‘felt compassion for them.’  We need to know how Jesus feels.  He doesn’t feel irritated at the odd timing.  Nor does he feel conflicted about how exhausting and demanding people can be.  Despite being emotionally hit hard by the news of his cousin’s death, Jesus is simultaneously capable of feeling genuine compassion for these people.  That is an unusual characteristic in a human being.  It’s not that Jesus never said ‘no’ to other people.  Sometimes he did; in the extended account in John’s Gospel, that ‘no’ came on the next day! (Jn.6:24ff.)  But consistently, Jesus demonstrates an emotional alertness and depth that flows out of who he was in relation to his Father.  Jesus was always able to find times to get away to connect with his Father, and was able to connect with his Father in the midst of doing lots of other things.  Perhaps he heard his Father saying, ‘Son, they’ve come to meet you, and receive from Me, for they are in need.  Let’s serve them together.’

Another key reminder overlaps with that one.  This moment was the result of the earlier travels Jesus and his disciples took among the cities and towns of Israel (Mt.10:1 – 13:52).  Jesus had wanted to expand his relationships and influence.  He wanted to grow the ministry.  He had sent out the twelve and now people were coming after them, trying to find them.  These people – or at least some among them – were among the ‘good soil’ that was receiving the word and bearing fruit (Mt.13:1 – 23).  This moment, in a sense, was planned.  Jesus had hoped for it.  He had a strategy for bringing it about.  Now, they were coming.

Do we really want the ministry to grow?  It would be a shame to just talk about growth and do nothing about it personally.  In the last few years in campus ministry, my colleagues and I have set up large, public, visually arresting, interactive surveys (InterVarsity ‘proxe stations’) focused on various life questions:  why are you here, how was your last dating relationship, how much of an atheist are you, is religion just a man-made thing, what can we do about evil, etc.  We use them to engage students passing by.  We can start substantial conversations with a hundred people per day, and good follow up happens over coffee or at an event we’re advertising.  Many Christian students have partnered with us in this exercise, but some have balked.  I can understand.  We’ve seen streetcorner evangelists just droning on and on.  Some of us in younger generations feel nervous about the idea of ‘intentionality’ in conversation or in friendship.  To us, everything should feel ‘organic’ and ‘go with the flow.’  Now, certainly it’s wise to avoid situations where we only want to speak and not listen, and our conversation must be two-way, not one-way.  But more often than not, Christians sometimes don’t want to start conversations with strangers because they’re not fully convinced about Jesus personally (we can help with that), or because they don’t want to feel awkward (we can give training for that), or because they’re not actually open to starting new friendships with non-Christians even if they have spiritual interest!  Life is just too busy for the Christian.  That’s a harder problem to deal with.  If a Christian isn’t actually open to friendship with a flesh and blood, not hypothetical non-Christian seeking after truth, isn’t that a spiritual problem?  Isn’t that contradicting the pattern of Jesus’ ministry, here?

Jesus plans and acts for growth.  He wants his ministry, influence, and presence in the world to grow.  He calls his disciples to grow relationally as he engages more people in their circles.  He wants to reach the crowd, the masses, the people out there who never seem to come to any of our meetings.  How will you participate in that?  It could start small:  Maybe when you go workout, or take a lunch or study break, you can just invite one other person you don’t really know yet, or tag along with another group of people.  Or maybe you and a few others can host some form of larger group conversation:  man a public survey, see a thoughtful movie with others, join a book club, or host fun events for your friends and your friends’ friends.  To reach more at-risk teenagers in our inner city neighborhood, we cleared out a section of our basement and turned it into an outreach room; one result was that one of our housemates wound up taking four to five teenage boys with her to church for a few months.  One thing’s for sure:  If we just keep behaving in a cliquish and exclusive way, never reaching out, we are not actually being true to Jesus and his love for the world. 

This quiet moment is coming to a close.  Time to bring your boat into shore, and face the crowd gathered there.  What do you hear?