He was moved with compassion for them

 When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.  But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.  And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.  When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late.  Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food."  But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat."  And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish."  He said, "Bring them here to Me."  Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass.  And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.  Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

- Matthew 14:13-21

 Yesterday we read that at that time in Jesus' ministry, Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus and said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him."  For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.  Because John had said to him "It is not lawful for you to have her."  And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.  But when Herod's birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod.  Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.  So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, "Give me John the Baptist's head here on a platter."  And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her.  So he sent and had John beheaded in prison.  And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.  Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

"When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself."  Theophylact comments that "when Jesus heard it" refers not to the death of John the Baptist (see yesterday's reading, above) but to Herod's fear that Jesus was John raised from the dead, and that is why Christ's powers were at work in Him (14:2).  The rest of yesterday's text was given to explain Herod's remark which had been heard by Jesus.  It seems quite evident that departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself in order to withdraw for prayer at this important juncture in His ministry.

And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.  When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late.  Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food."  But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat."  And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish."  He said, "Bring them here to Me."  Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass.  And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.  Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.  This feeding miracle in the deserted place is reported by all four evangelists.  My study bible comments that it shows Jesus the Lord feeding a great multitude of His people just as He fed the Israelites in the desert (see Exodus 16).  Church Fathers see in this an image of the Eucharist, which is made more clear in John 6, written years after Matthew's account, after a deeper understanding had bloomed in the Church.  Moved with compassion is used frequently, my study bible points out, concerning the Lord (20:34; Mark 1:41, 6:34; Luke 7:13).  It shows that Christ's power and authority are extended to those who suffer.  There are also details given spiritual significance in understanding this text.  One beautiful understanding of the five loaves is that they indicate the five books of the Law (Genesis through Deuteronomy), broken open in Christ and thereby feeding the universe.  The two fish, in this light, represent the Gospel Book and the Epistle book, the teaching of the fishermen.  The gathered leftovers held by the apostles shows that the teachings the faithful cannot yet understand are nonetheless retained in the consciousness of the Church.

What does it mean that Jesus withdrew to a deserted place upon hearing that Herod was afraid of Him and His power?  Herod has no way to understand Christ; his fears are simply superstitions arise from the fact that he is the one who had John beheaded at the behest of a girl, and because of an oath he swore.  It means that Jesus has now become fully aware of a particular milestone in His ministry, that the powers of the state fear Him, and are doing so irrationally.  But how was Jesus to act in the face of such powerful forces in opposition to Him?  If we think of Herod -- ruler of Galilee -- we have to remember how John the Baptist has just summarily been beheaded for an oath, a whim at a birthday party.  And this is the moment a capricious and lethal state power has stepped into the picture.  Jesus withdraws for prayer no doubt to find the right direction His ministry will go in response.  And if we assume those things, then we also must assume that what follows is the answer to prayer.  The people who've followed Him have a need, and His response is to be moved with compassion.  His prayer, we perhaps should understand, has set the stage for this miracle, and the appearance of the need for bread, the fulfillment of the Lord feeding His people in the wilderness, and the introduction to the Eucharist.  It is also, in the gathering of the fragments, a beginning hint that with all the opposition He will face, including His eventual death by Roman crucifixion and condemnation by the nation, that His Gospel is to go out to all the world.  His being moved with compassion is the key that starts it all, which tells us something of vast significance.  It's not only His divine power at work in this new step in His ministry in response to the violence that threatens it.  It is also His humanity, necessary to be "moved with compassion," because this word in Greek is telling us it is His insides, His "guts" if you will, that respond.  That single word in Greek that describes this action of being moved with compassion is σπλαγχνίζομαι, rooted in a word that means "spleen."  He is so moved that His inward parts are affected with feeling, so our God/man is once again totally involved in what results, and it expresses the fullness of the Incarnation, just as the Eucharist will in the future.  Let us consider these things and embrace them, and above all be grateful for them.  Let us do as He does at each juncture, roadblock, or threat, and withdraw for prayer to find the place God asks us to go forward in His word and His truth.