"In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples to Him . . . "
I found it intriguing, as I was reading these words this morning, that Jesus' very first response to the fact that the multitude that was fol-
lowing Him was hungry--was to call His disciples to Himself. Why? After all, Christ could have easily handled the situation *without* the twelve.
I think the reason the Savior did this is consistent with a divine prin-
ciple; and it is this: when God desires to do something great in the world, He very often wants His church to "broker" His work, and to "partner" with Him in it. In this way, God both gets the glory; and His people get identified with Him.
[Puritan quote of the day: "There is nothing within us that could jus-
tify, but something without us; not any righteousness inherent, but imputed. We may as well look for a star in the earth as for justifica-
tion in our own righteousness." --Thomas Watson, in, "A Body of Di-
vinity"]
