The Little Boy
In the book of John, Jesus performs one of His most well-known miracles. He miraculously feeds 5,000 men plus untold women and children. In total, it's estimated He may have fed over 10,000 people that day. Here's a shortened version of the story from John 6:1-14:
Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee, and a great crowd of people followed him…then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples…When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”…Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about 5,000 men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
This is a great story for so many reasons including Jesus' compassion, a demonstration of His amazing power and abundance, and the people's recognition of His divine nature. But one thing I wanted to highlight is the boy with the five loaves and two fish which enabled this miracle to happen. Whenever I hear this story, I think the boy's role is often overlooked. No one in the crowd would have thought that this boy mattered. He was one of 10,000 people there. He was one little boy with some fish and bread (sometimes I wonder why he was the only one who brought a bento lunch that day). Obviously he was chosen to be a significant piece of God’s redemptive plan not only for that day, but for the rest of human history. Because of the miracle that day, consider all the people that came to believe in Jesus as the Messiah and all the people influenced after it.
Here's the lesson for us: we never know who God will use and how; whether rich or poor, young or old, strong or weak, significant or not. In God's eyes, we're never just one of many, lost in the crowd. We're never without anything to offer. We never know who the Lord will claim and use in ways that we can't predict or hadn't foreseen. The Lord knows us all. He knows where we are and what we have. He can do incredible things with the little that we carry around. We never know what God will ask of us, and when He does, what may happen. What if that little boy had said no to Andrew or whomever asked for his food? What if he had remained quiet when they put out the call for help? The boy gave what he had, even though he probably thought it wasn’t much. And Jesus did with it what only God could do. Make something out of nothing. We never know how the Lord will redeem our little bits and pieces and use them to bless others. I love how at the end of the story, Jesus says "let nothing be wasted." When God calls, let us be open and willing, and waste nothing He gives us. It's just the way He works!
Pastor Darren
