John 6: 13 – 14
So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
I am sure you recognize this as the telling of the feeding of the five thousand. We forget, sometimes, that not only were all the people fed, which actually numbered somewhere around 20,000 when women and children are included, but that afterwards the disciples gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. What does this say to us and why did John include that detail in his narration of this event?
The first thing I see in it is the very nature of God. Not only does God not do anything half way, He actually goes above and beyond the need (Ephesians 3: 20). Our God works in abundance. He thinks in terms of overflow. We need to understand that about Him because that is the way He wants us to think too. Not only did God meet their immediate need, He also gave them food for the next day. That is worth pondering.
In addition to the idea of abundance, I believe John wanted us to see that this miracle was easy. Clearly Jesus did not struggle to feed the 20,000 since there was so much left over. John tells of the overflow as a prelude to his next statement. We know that because the next word is “therefore”. The telling of this miracle has a conclusion, a purpose. John says that when the people saw the miracle they concluded that God was on the scene. They thought that Jesus must be the foretold prophet that God would send before the coming of the Messiah. They missed it a bit but they recognized God’s hand and that is the part I like.
When God shows up, people get blessed. Great things happen. It doesn’t matter if the showing of God’s power comes right out of heaven, through the ministry of a prophet or at the hands of you and me. Whenever people get blessed, or their needs get met, God gets that glory and the attention. We can be instruments of His great grace and kindness as much as Jesus’ disciples were because we have the same Lord and the same Father. We actually have more because we have the Holy Spirit too.
Let God’s kindness be shown through you. Believe me, when people see the manifestation of God, evangelism becomes very easy.