Daily Bread

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Want to know the truth? No-one really knows the significance of the finer details in this story. There are a zillion theories, and they are all, at best, guesses. Are there links with Moses and the manna in the desert? Possibly. Was this a foreshadow of the great wedding banquet in heaven? Probably. Was the number of leftover baskets significant? Very likely.

As I read the passage, there were three things that jumped out at me. Firstly, Jesus had compassion on the crowds, secondly, Jesus asked his disciples to do something about it but they were unable to so, and thirdly Jesus took what they provided and turned it into a superabundance of food. If you look at the story like this, then it has parallels with the story of the Wedding at Cana in Galilee where Jesus turned water into wine — and that story clearly pointed to the superabundance of Jesus' death and resurrection being more than enough for everyone. In that story it was about wine (way more than was required), and in this one it was about bread (with leftovers) — and wine and bread are both things that represent Jesus' body.

It seemed there were two kinds of miracles that accompanied Jesus. There was what I call the 'everyday' miracles where heaven and earth met in his presence and creation could not help but be restored — people healed. Then there were the symbolic miracles, many of which were recorded by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These miracles were signs that pointed to the bigger story of who Jesus was and what he had come to do.

The story of the feeding of the five thousand is a story about superabundance. The twelve basketfuls left over were more than enough for everyone and for the twelve tribes of Israel. And what do you do with leftover bread? You give it away.

The message for you today is that you are included. The bread was broken for you and there is more than enough to feed you. The message of Jesus is to come, take, and eat, for you are welcome at God's table.

Holy God
Thank you for
your superabundance
— that the life, death,
and resurrection
of your Son, Jesus Christ
was and is more than enough
for everyone who
ever lived, is living
and will ever live
— including me.