Trees or Forests

When Jesus fed thousands of people at once, He likely saw it as thousands of miracles, not just one big one. He likely had each hungering stomach in mind as He created food to fill each one, I think.

He didn’t see the people He passed each day as a forest, but as trees. How do we view the people around us? On the highway, in a line at a market, what space is there in our hearts for Him to decide through us to notice one in particular and to show them His love for them by using our proximity and availability? It is difficult to feel 50 times as much compassion when we hear about 50 people dying in an interstate highway pileup as it is to hear about a mother of four young children dying by crashing into a tree.

It is difficult to stay sensitive to His compassion for those around us when He wants to pick one out of the crowd. Even more challenging to have compassion on the entire crowd.

When evening came, the disciples approached Him and said, “This place is a wilderness, and it is already late. Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

“They don’t need to go away,” Jesus told them. “You give them something to eat.”

(Matthew 14:15-16 Holman Christian Standard Bible ®©)