“Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, ‘Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.’”
“Pass the fish, please!” It’s my second helping. We’re supping on a sumptuous meal of deep-fried halibut, quinoa pilaf, a green salad, crusty bread. Nearly all of my children are here. We’re laughing, telling stories, spilling our iced tea. We’re celebrating the enormous 200 pound halibut—our favorite fish—that two of our sons caught this morning.
I cannot help but think of the miracle on the hillside that day, when thousands were fed from two tiny fish and five barley rolls. How does Jesus do this, multiply so much from so little? My husband and I stumbled upon the beach of this uninhabited island 30 years ago with nothing. Over the next decades, God multiplied the work of our hands and backs as we dug a well, built a house, as the rooms gradually filled with six children and all their laughter and fights, their mischief and songs.
When the feast on the hillside was over, Jesus instructed the disciples to gather up all the fragments. “Let nothing be wasted,” he urged them. They collected the scraps as directed, but their “hearts were too hard” to understand, Mark records in his account of this event (6:52). They didn’t understand that the broken bread delivered to all would soon be his body, broken for them. The bread and fish meant to feed them both body and soul fed only their stomachs.
Too many times I miss him too. In my daily feasts, I forget all he has multiplied. I don’t see him in the bread, the fish, the food on our table. But today, I reach for the last crust of bread. I chew slowly, eyes closed, not dropping a crumb. Let nothing be wasted.
Reflect:
Read the loaves and fishes account in John 6:1–15. What can you learn from the disciples? What can you learn from Jesus?
Pray:
What in your life is currently in danger of being wasted? How can you use every gift and blessing you have been given for his glory?
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
As my doubts about his teachings grew, so did a secret fascination with Jesus.
C.S. Lewis recommended discernment over diatribes in exactly the moments we’re most eager to indulge in critique.
