My child, have you any food?

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(Horatius Bonar, "The Tender Love of the Risen Christ")

"Children, have you any food?" John 21:5

Note the watchfulness of the risen Christ. He looks down on His flock, and marks each sheep and lamb with more than a shepherd's eye. The glory, the blessedness, the abundance with which He is surrounded--do not make Him unwatchful of His redeemed people. Amid His own plenty, He remembers the poverty, and hunger, and cold, and nakedness of His scattered flock below. He watches each one! The lack of one meal was observed by Him, that morning in Galilee; and we may be sure that He marks the lack of sustenance, whether for soul or body, in the least of His people.

Poor saint, you never lacked a meal, a crust--but Jesus noticed it, and asked the question, on purpose to supply your need, "My child, have you any food?" He watches the hunger and thirst of His children, and in profoundest pity, is unceasingly asking the question, "My child, have you any food?"

Nothing escapes His vigilant eye. "I know your poverty," He says, "I know your hunger, your thirst, your weariness, your weakness, your sighs and tears." Never did an earthly father pity a starving child, as He pities us!

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