Yesterday I spent time reading about the Syro-Phoenician (Gentile) woman and then this morning I just kept going through Matthew 15 to the end of the chapter. I was intrigued by the feeding of the 4,000 and just wanted to look at the numbers compared to the feeding of the 5,000. Many people probably don’t even realize that there were two separate feedings of the multitude…and I believe they both have deep meanings and significance. I won’t get into all that today, but I do want to relate the feeding of the 4,000 to yesterday’s reading about the Gentile woman.
What I thought was really interesting is that when Jesus is talking with her, they make mention of bread and crumbs. You see, she was basically a slave. She knew that Jesus was sent for the House of Israel, but she also made mention that He was the Son of David. So, she knew WHO He was.
Jesus’ ministry was shifting focus to those that followed Him. They didn’t often understand a lot of times…of course He knew, but they often times were seen trying to grasp His “new” way of thinking/ministry. In His first feeding of the 5,000, it was to the Jews, but when you read the account of the feeding of the 4,000, it is to a Gentile crowd. After the Gentile woman with the demon-possessed daughter was willing to take the crumbs that fall on the floor…Jesus feeds a Gentile crowd with 7 baskets of bread and ends up with 7 baskets of leftovers! Now, that gets me pretty excited!
We all know that seven is a number of completeness and there is significance in the baskets being counted. God doesn’t do anything happenstance, friends. I don’t like math and never been good at it, but I love numbers and their significance in the Bible. I know it doesn’t make sense without first understanding the first feeding, but here Jesus is demonstrating that He didn’t come just for the Jew (yes, He fed the Jew first), but he also came to save the Gentile. I believe the significance of the seven baskets of leftover bread can show us that everyone can sit and eat at His table. No one is excluded. Starting with 7 baskets and ending with seven baskets shows His perfect will…and that He does everything in abundance for the Jew AND the Gentile!
I encourage you to read both accounts in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John. John’s account is many years later and correlates around the time of Passover according to His account, which I think is awesome. There so much more awesome stuff in the feeding of the multitudes and maybe I can share some things that I have seen as I read through each one, but today I just want you to see that God took the abundant faith of one Gentile woman and allowed her to taste the goodness of His grace and love…then moves to the wilderness to feed the multitude of Gentiles in abundance that followed Him and fasted for three days.
The Bread of Life is always willing to supply in abundance when we sit and wait with Him. He is a God of leftovers…and endless supply. He showed up in a big way for one woman of faith, a crowd on a hillside and He will show up for you, too! When lack is placed in His hands, fullness and completeness takes place. If you can’t seem to get a bite on anything today, you can certainly chew on that!
