“God’s anonymous: a little boy and a lunch”
John 6:9
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
Once upon a time, or so the story goes, there was a great famine in the land, so no one had much of anything to eat. And fearing a long winter ahead, the people of a particular town stored away what little amounts of food they did have, hiding it even from their families and friends.
Until one day, a wandering soldier came to that village, who asked if there was a place where he could eat and sleep for the night.
“There’s not a bite in the whole county,” they told him. “You best keep moving on.”
“Oh, I have everything I need,” said the man. “In fact, I would like to make some soup, some stone soup, to share with all of you.” Then pulling a big black cooking pot out of his wagon, he filled it with water, and built a fire beneath it. Then slowly reaching into his knapsack, he pulled out a plain gray stone and plunked it into the water.
By now, hearing about the soldier’s magic stone, many of the villagers began to surround him and his cooking pot. And as he sniffed his stone soup and licked his lips, they began to overcome their lack of trust.
“Ahh,” the soldier said aloud to himself, “I do like a tasty stone soup. Of course, stone soup with cabbage is even better.”
A moment later, one of the villagers ran to his house to get some cabbage. “You can have this from my garden,” he said, as he held it out for the soldier.
“Wonderful!” cried the soldier, who then cut up it and added it to the pot. Then he said, “You know, I once had stone soup with cabbage and a bit of beef, and it was delicious!” The butcher said he could probably find some scraps. And as he ran back to his shop, other villagers soon came to offer bits of vegetables from their own gardens--potatoes, onions, carrots and celery. And before long, that big black pot was bubbling and steaming.
And sure enough, just as soon as the soup was ready, everyone in the village had more than enough to eat. And though they offered him money and other treasures in place of his magic stone, he refused to sell it. Instead, he packed up his belongings and went on his way.
What’s the moral of the story? When we share what we have, no matter how little, there will be plenty enough to go around.
So it was in the words of our text. I’ll read from the book of John, chapter 6: “After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following Him, because they saw the signs that He was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples” (John 6:1-3).
John wrote, “After this...” After what?
If you’d glance back a few chapters before, you’d see that Jesus’ fame was spreading like wildfire. No one performed miracles like Jesus did. No one spoke with authority as Jesus did. And since there was, literally, no one else in all the world like Him, people everywhere wanted to be around Him and with Him.
But not only was Jesus God, He was also Man. And since He was Man, He got tired--drained both physically and emotionally. Large and demanding crowds took every ounce of energy He had left. So to find respite and to spend time just with the Twelve, the men who were closest to Him, He went to the other side of the lake.
But what happened when He got there? The Bible says the crowds followed Him. No matter what, they simply couldn’t live without Him!
Now what would you do if you were Jesus? Would you try to run, hide or escape? Would you raise your hands in blessing and, with a smile, shoo them on their way?
That’s not what Jesus did at all. Instead, He began to make arrangements for the organized chaos that was about to ensue.
John wrote in verse 5: “Lifting up His eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward Him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?’”
Why ask Philip? Why not ask Philip? After all, Bethsaida was his own hometown. If anyone would know where to buy bread, he’d be the one to know!
But more than that, as John wrote, “He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do” (John 6:6).
So what do you do with a hungry crowd of five thousand, (not to mention all the women and children)?
There were four possible solutions. The first was this: send them away. As the disciples said: “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat” (Mark 6:35-36). In other words, there’s too many of them, Jesus. We can’t handle it, Jesus. Better send them on their way.
But when that wasn’t good enough, Philip suggested that maybe they should ask for donations, pass the hat, to raise enough money to buy food. But doing some quick math in his head, he said, “But two hundred denarii still wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have a bite” (John 6:7).
But since even that wouldn’t work, Andrew came up with yet one more idea--a little boy and his lunch: five loaves and a couple of fish.
But even that was a bit absurd. I mean, imagine if you’re trapped, in the middle of a storm, in a hockey arena filled with thousands of people, and all the vendors are broken down. And all you’ve got is one child with a couple of hot dogs. It’s just not going to go too far!
It’s funny if you think about it. All the disciples could see was their lack—their lack of money, their lack of food, their lack of energy, their lack of everything they needed to feed a crowd of more than 5,000. Even though they had seen, first-hand, God’s power to heal the sick and His inexhaustible abundance and limitless blessing, in spite of the countless miracles and the hope they felt, all they could see was what they didn’t have—enough food to feed a crowd.
Apparently they had forgotten God’s power displayed in the wilderness as He fed manna to a million people every day, or the widow in the book of I Kings whose flour and oil never ran out or the woman in II Kings and her little jar of oil that kept pouring and pouring and pouring. All they could say was, “Us feed them? Funny joke!”
How often we’ve been there with those disciples! How often we’ve seen not what we have, but what we don’t have. And how often we fail to realize Who is with us!
Yet there, in the midst of their weariness and scarcity, Jesus looked at them and said, “What do you have?”
“Five loaves and a couple of fish,” they answered.
By now, they should have known that that was just like Jesus. He was good at asking them to do what they never thought they could do. “Someone asks you to go one mile?” He said. “Walk with him two miles. Someone slaps you on your cheek? Turn the other cheek. Someone sins against you seven times? Forgive him 70 times 7. You love your neighbor? Good. Love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. Someone needs clothes? Give him yours. And when 5,000 are hungry, feed them.”
But as Jesus took that bread and fish and gave thanks to God, a miracle began to happen. He didn’t create barley seeds, throw them in the ground and wait for them to grow, nor did He wait for fish to spawn and grow. By His divine right and power, He compressed a months-long process into a moment of time. The One who once said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees that bear fruit according to their various kinds,” and Who said, “Let the waters teem with living creatures,” now stands before the multitude. And there He holds in His hand two small descendants of the first fish He created at the dawn of creation, and bread grown from the seed He Himself once planted across the earth. Jesus was no mere man. He was God in human flesh, come to save His people from their sin.
And when it was over, what happened? Two things—first, the Bible says that everyone ate and was satisfied. They couldn’t eat anymore. And second, it says twelve basketfuls were left over. It wasn’t just enough. It was more than enough.
What do these words mean to teach us? Simply this—if Jesus can work miracles with a little boy’s lunch, just think of what He can do with us.
That’s what the apostle Paul said to the Corinthians: “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (I Corinthians 1:26-27).
Are you physically and emotionally drained? Are you short on funds? Even you qualify to be used by God to meet the overwhelming needs of His people.
How do we do it? By yielding our insufficiency to Him to use as He pleases.
The story is told of a mighty warrior mounted on a magnificent horse, trotting down a road. Everyone, of course, made certain to get out of his way.
But there, directly in his path, in the middle of the road, was a sparrow. The bird was lying on its back with its feet up in the air.
The warrior drew in his reins, halted, and dismounted. He stooped down to the sparrow and said, “Are you dead? And if not, what are you doing in the middle of the road with your feet up in the air?”
“I’m not dead,” answered the bird. “But I heard the sky might fall down, so I’m helping to hold it up.”
The warrior thundered and shook with laughter. He rolled on the ground and slapped his thighs. And as he wiped the tears from his eyes, he said, “You silly bird! Even if the sky would fall, what difference could you possibly make with those puny, spindly little legs?”
“Well,” answered the sparrow, “you do what you can do.”
God used a baby’s tears to capture the heart of Pharaoh’s daughter and to save the infant Moses from certain death. He used a teenage boy named David and one smooth stone to topple a giant. And He borrowed a little boy’s lunch to feed a multitude. And as Jesus stands with us and for us, just think of what we can do.
Just like the disciples, that too is what you need to do. Bring your gifts, no matter how small, and give them to God. And then, and only then, you’ll see what miracles He can do!
Heavenly Father, by Your grace, open Your hand and supply our needs. Open Your heart and show compassion. And best of all, make us truly thankful for Your many blessings and help us to know that even in our meagerness and poverty, You are able to do awesome, incredible things. This we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen