Crumbs || Fish and Loaves

I remember as a kid going shopping with my parents all day. I would be so bored by dinner time and I just wanted to go home and kick up my feet to watch The Lion King. However, my parents would always have “just one more stop” before we went home.

That’s how I picture the disciples during the feeding of the 5,000. They ministered all day and they were ready to find a secluded place and prop their feet up. They gently suggest, as I’m sure I did to my parents on shopping days, that Jesus send the people away.

Instead of agreeing to an evening of relaxation, Jesus says, “Let’s get some dinner...with EVERYONE.”

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As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

--Matthew 15-21

Jesus is never too tired for you

When I get home from work, I CRASH. I walk through the door, kick off my shoes and immediately put my pj’s on. If I had the money and metabolism to eat take out every night, I’d have every delivery man on speed dial to bring me food.

I feel for the disciples. They worked hard all day. They wanted to retreat, relax, and debrief. Jesus was human, he felt that lack of energy too. But Jesus said to “Bring them here…”

Jesus is never too tired for you. Even after a long day, even after countless days of sin, even after disbelief - Jesus tells you to come to Him so He can feed you - fuel your spiritual energy and help you function.

Jesus can make something out of nothing

Jesus, is kind of like Pinterest. He makes something out of nothing. Paint chips? Dry erase calendar. Old t-shirt? A rug. Five loaves of bread and two fish? A feast for 5,000 men and their families.

A boy offered all he had in his hands - two fish and five loaves of bread. And out of that, Jesus fed 5,000 families until they were full and then filled 12 baskets of leftovers!

I like to think of it this way. If you drop a vase full of water, and it shatters on the floor. If you have the patience and tools, you could rebuild that vase and fill it with the same about of water again. Jesus, however, could take the exact same broken pieces and make 10 vases of the exact same size as the original and fill all of them with the original amount of water.

Jesus has been doing this in my life. I gave Him my life, and out of those broken pieces He as built a life bigger and better than the one I handed over to Him.

He uses my brokenness (brokenness of sin, life events, imperfection, etc.) for His Glory, for His purpose.

He wants to do the same for you. He’s calling you to Him because He wants you and desires you. When you choose to come, He will use you - no matter who you are - for His plan.