Recently at church, one of the readings was the story of Jesus feeding 5,000. For my friends who do not know this story, I will give a brief overview of this story. At this particular time, in the Bible, Jesus is being followed by huge crowds. As evening approaches, the disciples encourage Jesus to send the huge crowd away, for they have no food to feed them. There is a boy, among the crowd, that has some loaves of bread and a few fish. Jesus takes the food from the boys, blesses it, and multiplies it to feed 5,000 men and their family, with 12 large, wicker baskets leftover.(Please understand that the Bible does this story much better justice than I just did. I encourage you to read the gospel of John 6:1-15)
This is by far my favorite Bible story, EVER!! For some reason, I could listen to any priest, preach about this story and I never get tired of it. Every time I hear this story, I get a different point of view. Many wonder about the miracle of taking five loaves of bread and two fish, and allowing them to feed so many. Some often look at it from the boy’s point of view, giving of his food for the sake of others. Others may even question the disciples and their faith in the power of God.
But not too long ago, I heard a sermon about this story from a very unique point of view, the leftover fragments. Now I am sure you are questioning my sanity, but I must say, it was a great point of view. I will try to do it justice in my words.
In today’s fast paced world, we are so busy moving from place to place, or trying to accomplish this thing or that thing, that I am not sure we often look at the details. As I write this, I can tell you I am guilty on countless occasions of trying to get things done quickly, to get on to the next task at hand, as to accomplish the overwhelming list of things to do. I often get side tracked by my smart phone and answering an email, which often leads to me missing some little fragment of information, either from my children, my wife, staff member, boss, my God, this list is truly endless.
In all the details of feeding 5,000 men and their families, Jesus never missed a detail. He even made his disciples pick up the scraps and leftovers. I am pretty sure Jesus was not living by one of my favorite mottos, if you rent or use a space, make sure it is cleaner than it was when you got it. I can also bet Jesus was not worried about litter or being green, as we would in today's society, when he insisted on the disciples picking up every fragment. I believe this was Jesus trying to convey to us that even the smallest morsel, or fragment, is important.
Even though we live in this fast paced, GIGANTIC world, and we might often feel too small for Jesus to even notice. It is nice to know that He cares for us, no matter how small or big we perceive ourselves. We do not have to be a Nobel Prize winning author, or have been awarded the humanitarian of the year, for Jesus to care for us and recognize us. We do not have to be the greatest evangelist to get the love of Jesus. All we have to do is accept Him into our lives, follow Him, and He will give us the guidance we need, regardless of the fact that we might be a large slice of bread or even a crumb, He loves and cares for us all.
