Scripture

The crowd was amazed! Those who hadn’t been able to speak were talking, the crippled were made well, the lame were walking, and the blind could see again! And they praised the God of Israel.

Observation

Jesus returns to the sea of Galilee. a huge crowd brings all kinds of sick people, and he heals them all. The crowd is amazed, and everyone praise is the God of Israel.

Then Jesus calls his disciples and tells them they need to feed the crowd. The disciples seem to have forgotten the feeding of the 5000, and they wonder where they would get the food from.

This time, Jesus feeds 4000 men, plus women and children. And then he gets into a boat and crosses the lake.

Application

Jesus is still in an area largely populated with Gentiles. The point of the healings and the feeding of the 4000 is to show that Jesus’s ministry is available to all people and not just the Jews.

This was a point that the disciples found hard to accept. When we read the book of Acts, it seems that the Lord had to work hard at getting them to preach to Gentiles and beyond the comfortable surroundings of Israel.

In this passage, many people were healed of many illnesses, and the crowds “praised the God of Israel!”

We praise the God of Israel because He has saved us through Jesus’ death on the cross. We praise the God of Israel because physical and emotional healing is available.

We praise the God of Israel because He shown that He is the God of the whole world.

Prayer

Lord God, I praise you for saving a sinner like me. Amen.