Does Jesus care about the things that matter to me?

Health… Money… Relationships. Purpose… Peace of mind… Provision.

These are the kinds of things that matter to us. And when we think of them, the Gospel can seem so distant.

Forgiveness. Peace with God. Adoption as God’s children. Freedom from shame. Growth in holiness. Hope of eternal life.

These are the promises of the Gospel. And they can often feel irrelevant to our lives.

Something we’ve heard a lot about over the last year is the warning not to listen to false promises.

False claims that if we trust God or give money or behave well …then he will bless us in physical earthly ways.

But, does that mean Jesus just doesn’t care about these things that matter to us?

And if he does care, what difference does that make to our lives?

In Mark’s Gospel, he’s telling the story of Jesus and showing people responding in either fear or faith. Fear if they don’t understand Jesus’ kindness. Faith if they do.

And, now, he tells the story of this miracle to help show us that Jesus is kind and does care.

And Mark shows us three things in this miracle:

1. We naturally do not trust Jesus with our needs
2. But Jesus really does care about all your needs
3. Bring what you have to Jesus, and trust him to provide

So, the first thing:

1. We naturally do not trust Jesus with our needs.

Please look at v. 1:

In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat,

There’s a huge crowd of people, and they’ve been listening to Jesus teach for 3 days. And obviously they are really, really hungry.

So Jesus tells his disciples he wants to feed them. But, look at their response in v. 4:

And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?”

The disciples look around at their immediate circumstances, and they despair.

They don’t look at Jesus. They don’t expect a solution from Him. And that’s even though He’s the one who raised the topic of food. And they’ve been with Him for 3 days, hearing Him teach about God who provides for everyone. And only recently, back in Mark chapter 6, they had seen Jesus do a miracle to feed 5,000 people in another wilderness.

The disciples had every reason to be confident Jesus will provide. But, they don’t look at Jesus. They look at the situation immediately in front of them. And so they despair that they will have enough.

We naturally do not trust Jesus with our needs.

Luther says the disciples’ failure to trust here is a picture of what we are naturally like.

Even though Jesus has already provided again and again, we default to worry instead of trust, to fear instead of faith.

And Luther is right: it’s not just that we find it hard to trust Jesus, or can’t trust—it’s that by nature, we don’t want to.

Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount not to worry about our earthly needs.

He tells us that God knows what’s important to us and will provide for us.

He teaches us in the Lord’s Prayer to ask God “Give us today our daily bread” which means to ask God for everything we need for a blessed earthly life: Home, food, job, family, friends, money, purpose.

But, we prefer to rely on what we see and feel and control. We don’t believe Jesus will really provide for us.

That’s why we keep spiralling into stress and anxiety. That’s why we don’t give thanks for what we do have—because we don’t really believe that Jesus gave it.

Are you worried? Are you stressed? Are you obsessing over a need or a want? These are symptoms—signposts—that we are not trusting Jesus.

But, the great news is this:

2. Jesus really does care about all your needs (vv. 1b–3)

Please look at vv. 1-3:

he called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.”

Jesus literally tells us how he feels. He feels compassion.

And he doesn’t just feel compassion on some of the people. He’s in a Gentile area. It’s not just compassion for God’s people Israel. It’s not just compassion for the “good” people. It’s not just compassion on the “committed” people. It’s not just compassion on the disciples.

Jesus has compassion on the crowd.

And nobody in the crowd needed to tell him they were hungry. He had been looking. He had been watching. He noticed.

And he doesn’t just notice their current hunger… …see how he anticipates the needs they’re going to have:

if I send them away hungry to their homes,
they will faint on the way

Just like with the crowd, Jesus doesn’t wait for you to come and complain.

He doesn’t ignore you needs just because you haven’t said the right prayer or done the right thing.

He sees, he feels, he anticipates your needs, and he acts.

He sees the real hunger in your life—the needs no one else knows about: the late-night anxiety, the strained relationship, the stretched budget, the constant stress.

Even if you’ve never put it into words, even if you’ve never prayed about it, Jesus already knows—and he already cares.

He’s not distant. He’s not detached. He’s not waiting for you to be more spiritual. His heart is already moved toward you.

Jesus has compassion on you.

And he doesn’t just care about your soul

—he cares about your body, your family, your food, your fatigue.
—he cares about all the things that make you… you! your career, your relationships, your future.

That’s who he is.

Not a God who only gives heaven someday, but a Saviour who meets you in your need today.

Now, obviously He knows so much more than us. He sees the whole picture, from start to finish, we don’t. He sees the darkness we don’t see.

So, we often don’t understand His timing… His decisions… His choices.

But, despite what you see, you can 100% know this for sure:

Jesus really does care about all your needs

So, that leads us to Mark’s final point:

3) Bring what you have to Jesus, and trust him to provide

Please look at vv. 5-9:

And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.

Jesus doesn’t need much to work with. In fact, he doesn’t need anything. Simply by speaking, He creates as much food as is needed.

But, He chooses to start with the little that is offered to Him. Seven loaves and a few small fish. Nothing. But he blesses it, multiplies it, and feeds thousands.

Jesus could have acted without the disciples, but he asked, “How many loaves do you have?”

He wanted them to bring what little they had and trust him with it.

This is how he works with us. This is how we live by faith.

We bring our small efforts in whatever area it is… a few job applications, a few conversations, a few feeble efforts, a few prayers—and trust that Jesus will bless and provide what we need.

Faith doesn’t wait for perfect conditions. It acts with what it has, knowing Jesus cares and provides

So, Does Jesus care about the things that matter to me?

We naturally do not trust Jesus with our needs

If we keep your eyes on the need, on the problem then we forget about Jesus’ promise he cares, we forget about his provision in the past.

But Jesus really does care about all your needs

He cares about your needs today. You don’t even need to tell him. And he cares and anticipates your needs tomorrow.

The God who sees the end from the beginning. He may make decisions

So Bring what you have to Jesus, and trust him to provide

Because he says:

“I have compassion on the crowd.”

And so…

they ate and were satisfied.