As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. | 1 Peter 4:10–11
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This Sunday, we looked at the feeding of the 5,000 from John 6. This is a very well-known miracle of Jesus, burned into our memories through children’s Bible pictures and flannelgraphs. As with most things Jesus does, there is much more to it than first meets the eye. In this post, I want to look at the leftovers from this miraculous meal.
In John 6:13, we get this detail: So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. After the great crowd had eaten their fill, the disciples collected 12 baskets of leftovers from the ground. If you have ever catered before, you know that this is a common practice. In order to assure that you have enough food, you overprepare and assume that there will be some left at the end. At first, this doesn’t seem like an exceptional addition to the story. Except that nothing in this story is normal. This isn’t a case of prepping a little extra, this is about God providing, not only what is needed, but an abundance. We are not given just enough, we are blessed with grace upon grace.
The interesting part of this is that while it connects to the Passover and to the provision of God in the desert, there is a discontinuity in the leftovers. In Exodus 16, where we read of the manna and quail, we see that God gives rules on the collection of the manna, specifically not to take more than they need. The reason, is so that God can both reveal His provision, but also test them:
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. (4)
This sounds a lot like God’s testing of Philip in the feeding of the 5,000. Like Jesus miracle, God’s provision was sufficient to sustain the people. It describes the process this way:
And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. (17-18)
The stipulations on this was not to take more than they needed. Every morning, there would be more provision and the food from the day before would be molded and filled with worms. In this, God was tying their needs to Himself. He would sustain His people.
As the people move into the Promised Land, this changes. Now, God has given them a land flowing with milk and honey. No longer do they have to wait for the manna to cover the ground like dew, the land produces food in abundance. If they remembered the lessons learned, this would mean that their newfound wealth was a gift from God. In this, the extra, the amount above and beyond need, was given by God, not just to be possessed or enjoyed, but to be shared. The Biblical word for this is stewardship. To be a steward is to manage something that is not yours. God gives to us in abundance, entrusting to us more than we need for the sake of caring for His creation.
This was codified in the OT law. There are commands about forgiving debts, leaving crops to be gleaned, and giving to the poor. While NT freedom releases us from the condemnation of the law, it does not remove the stewardship. Christians should be more generous, more benevolent, and more active in the effort to bring God’s provision to all people. This is because, more than anyone else, we should view what we have, not as something we have earned or deserve, but as the overflowing grace of God into the practical aspects of life. God provides in abundance; what we do with the abundance says a lot about what we think of His gifts.