A Lesson in Compassion
Matthew 15:29-39
It is a joy to come together again on the Lord’s Day, to open our Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew and hear God’s word for His church. Matthew is the gospel of the King and His kingdom. Matthew demonstrates that Jesus is the promised King and Messiah. Jesus Christ fulfills the prophesies of scripture. He has the authority of God the Father in His words and His works. He does what only God can do. He possesses the attributes of Almighty God.
In Matthew 14-17, we are in a section of Matthew where Jesus is training His disciples in kingdom ministry. Every narrative not only teaches us about who Jesus is and what He came to do, but also about who Jesus calls His disciples to be and what He calls them to do. We saw Jesus feed the 5000 through His disciples, teaching them the priority of kingdom ministry and God’s provision for it. We saw Jesus walk on water teaching them the power of faith over fear. Then, when the scribes and Pharisees confronted Jesus and His disciples about washings, Jesus taught them the purpose of kingdom ministry, God’s cleansing of the heart. Last time, we saw Jesus interact with a woman of Canaan and we saw the perseverance of faith in kingdom ministry.
Today, we learn another lesson: the passion of kingdom ministry. Our text today shows that compassion is a driving force in Jesus’ ministry. We have seen Jesus’ compassion driving His ministry before. Matthew 9:36 said, “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” And Matthew 14:14 said, “And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.”
The Bible repeats the refrain that “The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.” (Psa. 103:8; 145:8). We know God is compassionate. Jesus has the same mercy, grace, and compassion as the Father. And the lesson for us is not only does God show compassion toward us, but He also calls us to join Him in His compassionate work.
1. The Context (Matt. 15:29-31)
Last time, we saw how Jesus had left the Jewish region of Galilee, where He had done most of His ministry, and traveled to the Gentile regions of Tyre an Sidon. While there, He had encountered a Gentile woman of Canaan who exhibited great faith in Him. He responded to her faith by graciously healing her daughter from demon possession (Matt. 15:21-28). We do not know how long Jesus was in the area of Tyre and Sidon or what else He did there, but now Matthew 15:29 tells us, “Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.” Mark gives us a little more information saying that Jesus came through the region of Decapolis (Mark 7:31). Apparently, from Tyre and Sidon, Jesus had headed east through Phoenicia, skirted around the North side of the Sea of Galilee, and traveled through the region east of the lake known as the Decapolis, or “Ten Cities” which would be in present day Jordan. Like Tyre and Sidon, this area was largely Gentile.
The importance of Jesus’ location is that it speaks to the make-up of the multitudes He ministers to. We have seen that Jesus had been trying to get His disciples alone to teach them in relative peace. So He has gone to these largely Gentile areas away from the crowds of Jewish enthusiasts that surrounded Him. But even here, Jesus’ reputation proceeds Him. The people in this area had also heard about Jesus and His miracles. Remember back in Matthew 8 Jesus had cast our demons in the country of the Gadarenes and Mark 5:20 tells us that the formerly demon-possessed man “departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.”
So, you can just imagine how people must have welcomed Jesus when they heard He was passing through this region. We’re not sure how long He spent there, but apparently, He was there long enough for multitudes of people to hear that He was there and come to see Him. Matthew 15:30 says, “Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them.”
I love the picture that Matthew gives us of Jesus’ mercy to the multitudes that came to Him. He says that they brought people to Him who had all sorts of needs that were beyond human remedy—some who were lame, some who were blind, some who were mute, and many others. They laid these needy people at Jesus’ feet; and Matthew tells us that He healed them. There wasn’t a single need placed before Jesus that He wasn’t able to graciously and completely meet.
Matthew 15:31 says, “So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.” The goal of kingdom ministry is ultimately that people would worship the Lord. As Christ’s followers, we are called to minister not only to people’s physical and temporal needs but to lead them to glorify God. Jesus has immeasurable compassion to heal their broken bodies, but He has infinitely more compassion on them for the sake of their eternal soul. Jesus came to save us from sin, death, and eternal condemnation. He came to deliver us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of light. He came that God would be glorified by people who have been redeemed by His precious blood shed on the cross.
Notice the significant, unusual phrase at the end of that verse, “and they glorified the God of Israel.” These Gentiles were marveling at Jesus. And when they marveled at Him, they truly were glorifying “the God of Israel.” “God of Israel” is used over two hundred times in the Old Testament, but only twice in the New Testament (the other time is Zechariah’s prophecy at the birth of John the Baptist, Luke 1:68). If these people were Jews, would they simply not praise God, as did the people who witnessed the healing of the paralytic in Matthew 9:8? The inference is clear, both from the context (Matt. 15:21; Mark 7:31) and from the statement, “they glorified the God of Israel” (Matt. 15:31) that these people are Gentiles, not Jews. Jesus is still in Gentile territory.
This is important because it was to this very same crowd of Gentiles that Jesus demonstrates His great compassion by feeding them just as He had done the Jewish crowd in Matthew 14.
So we see…
2. Jesus has Compassion on the Crowd (Matt. 15:32)
Our remaining verses today deal with Jesus feeding the four thousand. Matthew 15:32 says, “Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.””
This sounds very familiar doesn’t it? We saw a similar situation in Matthew 14 when Jesus fed a multitude of five thousand men plus women and children. The two accounts are very similar. Both times a great crowd gathers, Jesus teaches them and heals their sick, they are hungry and far from home, Jesus has compassion on them, he talks with the disciples about feeding them, they only have a small amount of food, Jesus instructs the crowd to sit down, he gives thanks for the food, he has the disciples distribute the food, everyone eats and is satisfied, and there is food left over.
But the feedings also have some significant differences. The location here is on the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee in Decapolis, not Bethsaida. Here, they sat on the ground, not on the grass. Here we find the 4,000+ are fed after they had been with Jesus three days rather than 5,000+ who were fed after one day. Here, seven loaves of bread and a few fish are available rather than five loaves and two fish. Here seven large baskets–hampers–are taken up rather than twelve regular baskets. So on a basic level, Jesus does this miracle twice because there was a need twice. There were hungry people who needed to be fed.
But another question is, “Why does Matthew include this story in his Gospel?” We’ve already seen Jesus do something greater. We know that the Gospel writers were very selective in what they included in their accounts. As John wrote about his Gospel, “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25).
In addition to what we learned from the first feeding, this miracle points out two things. First, Jesus is not only able to perform a mighty work, but He can repeat it according to His own desire. Second, this miracle demonstrates Jesus had compassion on those outside of Israel’s covenant as well as those within it.[i]
At the same time, Jesus was also trying build the faith of the disciples. He is training them in kingdom ministry. Jesus does not ask them what they think they should do, and He does not immediately tell them what to do. He presents the dilemma to them. This is an opportunity for the disciples to apply the lessons they have already been taught. Jesus said, “I care about these people and sure would like to feed them.” Then left it for the disciples to ponder. Will they show God’s compassion to all people, not just the Jews like them?
So we see, again, that …
3. Jesus Challenges His Disciples (Matt. 15:33-34)
Jesus calls his disciples together. He explains the problem to them just as before, and they answer: “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?” (Matt. 15:33). Have the disciples forgotten what Jesus did in Bethsaida when He fed the five thousand? I don’t think they forgot what Jesus did, but I also think that they have not fully learned the lesson Jesus taught them through it. We shouldn’t be too hard on the disciples here. How many times has God provided for us in the past, and we still have trouble trusting Him for whatever we are going through in the present?
To their credit, the disciples don’t ask Jesus to send the crowd away like they did last time. They recognized Jesus’ compassion for these people. Their reply to Jesus emphasized that they knew the Lord could satisfy such a multitude but that they could not. He had no less power than before, and they had no more. They knew that Jesus could feed the people if He chose to. The question is, will He? This was a Gentile crowd. Jesus had forbidden them to go in the way of the Gentiles and had instructed them to preach to the Jews only (Matt. 10:5-6). Jesus had delayed in granting the request of the Canaanite woman and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24). Perhaps they wondered if Jesus would want to feed this Gentile crowd.
So, like last time, the disciples point out the obvious lack of resources. And like last time, “Jesus said to them, ‘How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.’” (Matt. 15:34). Notice this—the crowd is smaller than before, and yet their resources are greater. Oh, they are still largely insufficient. Apart from Jesus’ miraculous intervention, they are no more able to feed this crowd than the last one. So, they await Jesus’ direction on what He wants them to do to fulfill His request.
4. Jesus Completes the Miracle Feeding (Matt. 15:35-38)
35 So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 36 And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude. 37 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. 38 Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. (Matt. 15:35-38).
The feeding of this multitude is carried out in the same manner as the first feeding of a multitude. Yes, they have more food and fewer people to feed, but it is as impossible for 4,000 to be fed with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish as it is to feed 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish. The task cannot be completed unless God intervenes, and He does. Jesus gives thanks (Matt. 15:36) and begins giving the food to the disciples who serve it to the people. Jesus was teaching the disciples about compassion. He didn’t give the food to the people, He gave it to the disciples so they could give it to the people. He made sure that they showed compassion to this Gentile crowd.
Everyone is satisfied—four thousand men besides women and children. And they took up seven baskets of leftovers. Once again, the provision was more than sufficient. When Jesus fed the 5,000 Matthew said there were twelve baskets left over, but the word Matthew used there was kophinos, a small Jewish container, a private basket for personal use similar to a lunch box. But the word Matthew uses here for these seven baskets is spuridas, a large Gentile basket. It’s the size of the basket that Luke says was used to lower the Apostle Paul outside the wall of Damascus in Acts 9. The baskets the disciples filled here were big enough to hold a man.
Why is that important? Because Jesus is teaching His disciples about compassion. No matter how much you give to help others, God has more than enough not only for them but for you also.
This lesson is preparing the disciples for the Great Commission, at the end of the Book of Matthew (28:18-20). While Jesus sent His disciples only to the Jews in Matthew 10, He will send them into “all the nations” in Matthew 28. We have a glimpse of this in our text.
What do we learn from today’s passage? We see, again, Jesus’ divine compassion and power. He healed people physically and He healed them spiritually. He fed them with bread and fish and fed them the word of God. He did these things because He is the Son of God. He is God with us (Matt. 1:23), God in human flesh (John 1:14). He is not only the God of Israel, He is the God of all the nations. He has compassion for all. He has power for all. Not only does He have compassion for our spiritual needs and our serious physical needs, but even for our daily needs. And He has compassion not only on Israel, but on the world.[ii]
If you have not yet come to Christ for salvation, Jesus says to you, and to all sinners in need of salvation, “I have compassion…” And He not only feels that compassion for you, but He also acted on it. Jesus offered His life up for you. He paid the debt of sin that you owed. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,” (1 Pet. 3:18). In compassion, He suffered and died in your place so that your sins could be forgiven and you could become a child of God. So He says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28). Look to Jesus who loves you and died for you. Believe in Him. Trust His saving blood. This is the loving, saving compassion of Jesus.
What about us? If we are His disciples, children of God by faith in Christ, heirs of the kingdom of heaven, those in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells by faith, then that same compassion should be felt and shown by us. Do you see the needs of people like Jesus did? Does your heart go out to the harassed and helpless, the sick and sinful? Do you believe that Jesus is willing and able to help them, to save them? Do you believe that He wants to use you to show His compassion to them? God loves people. He cares about people. And He has sent us into the world to care about them too.
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[i] Scott Harris, Compassion for People – Matthew 15:29-39, https://www.gracebibleny.org/compassion_for_people_matthew_15_29_39
[ii] John MacArthur, https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/2314/compassion-for-the-outsiders
