Aug 30, 2020
by Sarina Gumness
There are hundreds of people mentioned in the Bible, but some are not looked at like others. I wanted to discuss the boy who shared his lunch with thousands of people by giving it to Jesus. The story is mentioned in all four of the Gospels—meaning this young man is mentioned in all four of the Gospels.
Let’s begin with the account itself. The fourth sign: Feeding the Five Thousand, John 6:1-14.
“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.
Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 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?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.
Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”
Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.”
Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.
And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.
When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
Many of the people during this time didn’t have very much. They were all in astonishment over the miracles that Jesus was performing. As the verses point out, Passover was near. Passover is the Jewish holiday and feast celebrating God’s provision as He delivered His
people from Egypt. The people following Jesus now were ready to see this provision and to be delivered.
The boy in the story is just described as young—
which could be anywhere from a child to a man in his twenties. He was most likely poor, because the bread is described as being made of barley, which was common to the poor. I admire this boy. We often point to the miracle itself from the story, but why not the young boy, who decided to give everything that he had to Jesus—Someone he probably barely knew, but decided to trust. He decided to trust this stranger with everything he had, just because of the miracles he was hearing about. This boy has many characteristics that we could learn from, but here are three:
1. Unselfish/Selfless/Generous: giving or sharing
in abundance and without hesitation.
“You know about the kindness of our Lord Jesus
Christ. He was rich, yet for our sake became poor in order to make you rich through his poverty.
—2 Corinthians 8:9
“The king will answer them, ‘I can guarantee this truth: Whatever you did for one of my brothers or sisters, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did for me.’” —Matthew 25:40
2. Trusting/confiding:
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done.”
—Luke 22:42
“He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”
—John 3:30
3. A neighbor:
“Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well.” —Philippians 2:3-4
“For you, brothers, were called to freedom. Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity to gratify your flesh, but through love make it your habit to serve one another.”
—Galatians 5:13
Finally, I leave you with this question: How was the life of the boy with fish and loaves changed by Jesus?
