Today's passage: Matthew 15:32-39
Helpful thoughts:
- This is not the feeding of the five thousand! Jesus did this miracle twice.
- Physical needs matter to Jesus. He knows what it feels like to be hungry.
- The disciples would certainly have not forgotten the first miracle Jesus did to feed thousands of people. They were probably just acknowledging that they themselves were unable to feed the crowd.
- The word used for “basket” in this passage is different than in chapter 14 and would have been quite a bit larger. So, even though there were fewer baskets left over, there was probably more food.
Questions to consider:
- Was the feeding of these Gentiles the point of the passage, or does this passage read more like a conclusion to what we have been reading over the last few days?
- What was the greatest thing that happened in the second half of chapter 15; Jesus doing miracles or Gentiles calling the God of Israel their Lord?
- What is the purpose of miracles? What is better than God doing a physical miracle in your life?