“So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.” – John 6:13
This is an extraordinary little detail that’s emphasized in the accounts of a truly remarkable miracle. Jesus began with five small barley loaves – the modest provisions a poor boy had brought for himself. Using that, Jesus created bread in the wilderness to feed thousands and thousands of Jews in a vivid re-enactment of God’s miraculous provision for Israel in the wilderness. After everyone had eaten their fill – not a modest snack but a satisfying meal – then His disciples gathered enough leftovers to fill 12 baskets!
Five small loaves of the kind of bread eaten by the poor became a feast for thousands. This reminds us that our human thinking about what can and can’t be accomplished by God is completely wrong! God isn’t limited by the resources we think we can put together for Him. God owns everything and can create from nothing to accomplish His purpose. Don’t limit your faith to what you can reason out, plan out, or expect to collect. Whatever God is calling His people to do, He will provide the resources.
After the feast, there were more leftovers than there had originally been bread. This is a beautiful reminder that what Jesus does for us, He does in glorious abundance! His grace, His love, His mercy, and His sacrifice – He delights to give those to us in overflowing abundance!
The number of baskets of leftovers isn’t an accident. Twelve is the number of tribes of Israel, the number of Apostles, the number of completeness throughout the Bible. This reminds us that what Jesus does for us, He does for all. His sacrifice, His resurrection, and new life in Him is made available to all and there is grace enough for everyone who will embrace it.
This story isn’t about leftovers because Jesus isn’t a God of scraps and leftovers. Nonetheless, in the leftovers we learn a great deal about the greatness, power, and provision of Jesus Christ for us, our sins, our lives, and the world! #FollowJesus