Prioritize. That’s what we’re all instructed to do in this busy world. As we make our lifestyles more convenient, the more demands we place on ourselves, and we find our lives become more frantic. So, we are called to prioritize – to convert our activities into a sort of Top 10 list -- picking what’s most important to get done first. That’s so hard to do because we get inundated with distraction. It’s hard to prioritize because everything seems so important, but we know we can’t do everything. And so the vicious cycle begins.
It seems funny to us that our Savior would be concerned with such things, but he is. Our Savior prioritized. JESUS PUTS FIRST THINGS FIRST! This is a valuable truth to know 1) When the Grocery List of Life Gets Out of Hand, and, as we grow to 2) Trust the Savior of Life Has You in His Hand.
1) When the Grocery List of Life Gets Out of Hand
Have you ever gone shopping, and just couldn’t seem to find what you were looking for? Oh, you could find everything you didn’t need, but the things on your list were nowhere to be found. So, you began to get frustrated, and you lost sight of what was on your list because you didn’t know where to begin.
Life can seem like a grocery list that’s gotten out of control. We just can’t seem to put first things first. So many demands are made of us; so many expectations, so many dreams and aspirations, so many good intentions, that we become overwhelmed.
I have a celphone. Sometimes, I wish I didn’t. It’s too easy to be connected to others. It’s too easy for others to be connected to you. With all of this new technology comes the temptation to force ourselves on one another any time we want. Whether you’re in the store, eating at a restaurant, attending church, or driving down the road, people can get in touch with you for any and every reason. That might be the last thing you need at the moment.
We wonder why our lives are filled with so much stress and anxiety. It really isn’t any secret. We try to prioritize our lives one way, and then someone or something else comes along and pulls us out of focus. We get distracted. We get frustrated. We get stressed out. We get angry. We get depressed.
It’s at times like these we find ourselves turning to God and really don’t even know why. All we know is that we’re frazzled and stressed, and need some guidance. If you don’t think that happens, then take a look at the crowd of people in our text: “When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.” Now, the news Jesus had just heard was that John the Baptist had been beheaded by King Herod. Not only that! Herod was convinced that Jesus was John the Baptist come back from the dead. Jesus had to put first things first. He had to prioritize. Jesus knew John’s death meant that his own suffering and death was close at hand. Jesus also knew that Herod was a madman and that he might hunt him down, so he put first things first. He gathered up his disciples, and headed out to a private location. He needed time to be with his disciples so that he could teach them more about his Father’s plan of salvation.
Jesus’ disciples finally docked their boat and they disembarked. To Jesus’ surprise, a huge crowd was already waiting for him. Many of them were there because they were impressed with Jesus’ miracles. They were hoping Jesus might be someone special. And all of those people brought their own personal grocery lists. Each one had a list of expectations, a list of burdens, a list of worries and concerns, and each one wanted Jesus to help sort it all out.
Again, we notice how Jesus put first things first: “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” In spite of his need for rest and in spite of the crowd’s mostly materialistic reasons for coming to him, Jesus doesn’t turn his back on them. That’s because he prioritized their every need. Jesus identified their great spiritual need for him. He not only healed their sick, but Luke tells us in his account that Jesus actually welcomed the crowd and spoke to them about the kingdom of God.
What an all-sufficient Savior we have! He knows how to put first things first in our lives, even when we don’t have a clue. He prioritizes that out-of-control grocery list called “life.” He touches us with his compassion and leads us to realize that’s what needs to be first in our lives.
Jesus can handle the grocery list of your life. He will satisfy your needs. Just look at the huge grocery list that faced Jesus in our text: “As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” We find out why the disciples were so anxious. It was getting late. In fact, it was already past the evening mealtime and still the crowd kept growing. It seemed like things were getting out of hand! In sheer desperation, the disciples counted the crowds. There were at least 5,000 families present! And when the disciples added the women and children to the count, they had a mob in excess of 15,000 people!
Talk about a grocery list that’s out of control! What could the disciples do? Where could they turn? Where would they begin to try and prioritize such a demanding list of needs? Ah! The foolish disciples turned to themselves and to each other to try and satisfy their growing problem. They started winding through the crowds to see if anyone had brought some sort of food.
2) Trust the Savior of Life Has You in His Hand
How it is with us! When life gets out of hand, we tend to look to ourselves or to each other for solutions. Our lives become unhappy, and so we try to fill that gap on our own. We become disenchanted, and so we come to the conclusion that we simply need a new hobby. And off we run, bouncing from one activity to another, trying to satisfy our own demands for pleasure. Yet, before we know it we realize that things are topsy-turvy. Our lives aren’t any happier. Instead, we seem worse than before. The grocery list grows and grows, the demands and expectations become greater and greater, and we begin to feel completely inadequate.
Our worries and our own inabilities blind us to the obvious: we have a Savior who loves us dearly and who will care for all our needs. A man and his dog were walking the beach when they came upon another visitor to the beach. The owner of the dog was proud of his dog’s newly mastered feat, so he said to the visitor, "Watch this!" Then he tossed a piece of driftwood far out into the water and the dog immediately ran on top of the ocean, fetched the wood, and ran back. The visitor just shook his head in disbelief. The owner threw the stick two more times. Finally he asked the visitor, "Did you notice anything unusual?" “Yea,” the visitor responded, “your dog can’t swim, can he?" --James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 135
We are oblivious to the obvious. “Jesus replied, ‘They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.’ ‘We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,’ they replied. ‘Bring them here to me,’ he said.” The disciples seem to have forgotten all the miracles they had seen Jesus perform. They had seen Jesus healing the sick and distressed all day long. Yet, they missed the obvious. If Jesus could heal bodies then he could certainly nourish them. The disciples missed that. They were too focused on the overwhelming need and their inability to meet it.
When you are overwhelmed, then take that unmanageable grocery list – the things you feel you’re supposed to be but aren’t, your list of failures and regrets, all those expectations you have – take that list and place it in Jesus’ hand. Let him do the shopping for you. Trust that he will meet and exceed all your needs. In fact, he already has. He’s earned salvation for you. No matter what may come in this life, the most important details have been met. Jesus has prioritized your needs for you.
Five loaves and two small fish –that’s a tiny lunch. Yet, in Jesus’ hands they became a feast. Put first things first. Trust that the Savior of life has you in his hand. In his hand little things become a lot. How that is true in our lives! Our little lives become eternal in Jesus’ hands. Jesus is our all-sufficient Savior. He put first things first in our lives by giving his life for us. Our Lord took care of our grocery list of sin. He purchased every item on it -- -paying the price we owed. Now, we have heaven as a real certainty. God promises it. Take your Savior’s promises for example. Quite often they are simple words: “I am the Bread of Life. Come to me and I will give you rest. It is finished.” Those may seem like simple words, even little words. Yet, those words fall on human hearts and are built up into great castles of hope.
Jesus brought this truth home in this unforgettable miracle, and a beautiful truth stands out in the midst of these verses: “They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.” God more than met their needs. The crowds even had tomorrow’s bread in hand. They had more than enough. Our Lord will not leave us empty-handed. How true it is as St. Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:31-32) The Savior of life has you in the palm of his hand.
Palm Pilots are big-ticket items these days. It seems everybody has one. And I suppose they are nice. They help people prioritize. You can organize your entire life on one of those machines and fit it into your front pocket. Better than any Palm Pilot is our Savior Jesus Christ. This miracle reveals Jesus’ feelings for us. We are strengthened in our faith in him. He is our all-sufficient Savior. He put first things first. He’s prioritized our lives by redeeming us from sin, and holding open the gates of heaven to us, even as we speak. Remember, in the midst of our hectic lives we have a compassionate Savior who puts our eternal welfare first. He will provide for all our needs, physically and spiritually. He will pilot us through this life and keep us in the palm of his hand, both now and for eternity. Thanks be to Jesus that he put first things first in our lives. Amen.
