Lent: Multitudes of people

Matthew 14:14-21

image credit

Five thousand men. Do you suppose it was easier for the men to get away, and that number was only doubled to 10,000 with the women and children or do you supposes it was an even greater multitude of people, perhaps 15,000 or more?
.
Jesus reached out to individuals but He also interacted with large crowds of people. As has been pointed out in talks in the prayer group community I belong to, several of the disciples were commercial fishermen before Jesus called them to become fishers of men. They weren't bringing home a small handful of fish each day; they were netting hundreds to sell. And He called them to do the same thing with people: by extension calling us to reach out to everyone we interact with (as if we were collecting large netfulls everyday), not just an individual or two throughout the course of our lives.
.
Jesus' person and message were strong enough to draw thousands of people to seek Him out. They were healed by Him, they were taught by Him, they were even fed by Him before returning home. Are you in the crowd following Jesus? What are you struggling to leave behind in order to be healed by His hand, respond to His teaching, and receive His grace?
.
Are you one of the disciples dedicating the rest of your life to Jesus? Are you actively living out His call to be a commercial fisherman of everyone you interact with? Is it time now to seek His grace so you can pass out the baskets of 5 loaves and 2 fish to feed well more than 5000 people?