What Jesus Did : Luke 9:11-14 - Called to the Impossible
by Phil Ware
Called to the Impossible - Luke 9:11-14
But the people learned where Jesus went. They followed him. Jesus welcomed them and talked with them about God's kingdom. He healed the people that were sick. Late in the afternoon, the twelve apostles came to Jesus and said, "No people live in this place. Send the people away. They need to find food and places to sleep in the farms and towns around here." But Jesus said to the apostles, "You give them something to eat." The apostles said, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish. Do you want us to go buy food for all these people?" {There are too many!} (There were about 5,000 men there.) Jesus said to his followers, "Tell the people to sit in groups of about 50 people." (ERV) Full TextKey Thought
"You feed them." Don't you wish you could have seen their expressions when Jesus told them to feed the crowd? "Impossible!" they honestly replied. Their reply was correct, of course, based on standard human limitations. This realization was exactly what Jesus wanted them to confront. He was calling them to the impossible. Yet that is precisely what Jesus did through them and their meager resources. You may be hearing that same call from the Lord in your life today. While it isn't a call to feed 5,000 people out in the middle of nowhere, it still seems impossible. It may be a call to give up some secret sin or relationship, it may be a call to persevere under painful and difficult circumstances, it may be to keep loving someone who is unloving, or a host of other seemingly impossible challenges. So the events that follow in Luke 9 are for you and me, as well as for Jesus' first disciples. Then together, we can learn that Jesus does the impossible through ordinary folks like us!
Today's Prayer
Holy God, I'm not sure why I can believe in the resurrection of Jesus yet have problems believing you can do incredible, even impossible, things through me. Father, I need the strength and courage to believe that you can do "impossible" things through me. So please, minister to my heart through the story of the feeding of the 5,000 and renew my faith that your Spirit working in me can empower me to do more than I can even imagine. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Today's Verses in Context
But the people learned where Jesus went. They followed him. Jesus welcomed them and talked with them about God's kingdom. He healed the people that were sick. Late in the afternoon, the twelve apostles came to Jesus and said, "No people live in this place. Send the people away. They need to find food and places to sleep in the farms and towns around here." But Jesus said to the apostles, "You give them something to eat." The apostles said, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish. Do you want us to go buy food for all these people?" {There are too many!} (There were about 5,000 men there.) Jesus said to his followers, "Tell the people to sit in groups of about 50 people." So the followers did this and all the people sat down. Then Jesus took the five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus looked up into the sky and thanked God for the food. Then Jesus divided the food and gave it to the followers. Jesus told the followers to give the food to the people. All the people ate and were filled. And there was much food left. Twelve baskets were filled with the pieces of food that were not eaten.-- Luke 9:11-17 (ERV)
URL: http://www.heartlight.org/wjd/luke/0604-wjd.html
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