The Left Overs

John 6:1-15:

Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.”  One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.”  Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.

Blog:

After Jesus Miraculously Fed the five thousand, there were a ton of left overs – specifically, twelve wicker baskets full of food.  The “twelve” baskets mirror the “twelve” Apostles in that Jesus used this Miracle as a Sign for the non-believers in the crowd, as well as to grow and galvanize the Faith of His actual Followers.  Jesus is always giving us more than we need; even when we don’t realize it and/or like what He’s doing (or not doing) in our lives.  God has so much Love for all of us, that It is constantly overflowing and providing us plenty of “left overs” for the days, months, and years ahead of us.  God never lets us go hungry and all that we have to do to be with Him in Heaven is to Believe in His Son Jesus, love Him and others will everything that we have, and eat of His Body and drink of His Blood.  It was this very command about the Body and Blood of Christ at the Last Supper that was “hard to hear” and led a lot of His Disciples to leave Him moments before His Passion.  And, while God always leaves us with His “Left Overs” due to His Abundant Love, Grace, and Mercy, we, too, find ourselves like the Apostles.  We, too, are the “left over” Remnant of Jesus Christ – the Body of Christ.  As Disciples of Christ, this world will require our very blood, sweat, and tears, but we all know about the Great Joy that is coming in the morning of our New Life with Christ in Heaven.  And, the “Left Overs” for those “left over” will sustain us until He comes again.