Compassionate Faith

This week, I am looking at the ways that we assess the needs of those with whom we communicate. In our conversations, we can gather specific information directly about someone's life at home, school, or work or in face-to-face or phone conversations, a casual conversation can help me find out how those I talk to are doing spiritually and emotionally. We also can connect while sharing some laughs and assess their responses indirectly in this way.

As we continue this week with the concept of how we respond to others using compassionate faith, assessing the needs of those we come into contact with is our point of focus as followers of Christ -particularly with feeding and empowering others according to their needs.

Our reading is from John 6:1-21. John writes about Jesus seeing thousands of people who were following him because of the healings he had performed and upon seeing them coming toward him and his disciples he asked Philip, "Where will we buy food to feed these people?" Later, Jesus miraculously walked on the water and led the disciples' boat to land through a strong wind in a split second.

Have you ever thought about why Jesus chose to feed the people instead of teach them as he did when the crowds came to him before? And, why did Jesus perform that "walking on water" miracle? What caused Jesus to make that assessment of the needs of the crowd and the disciples?