An Ongoing Miracle--August 6, 2026

An Ongoing Miracle--August 6, 2026

"And all ate and were filled, and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children." (Matthew 14:20-21)

Those fragments of fish and broken loaves are not an afterthought: they are a calling card.  The baskets of leftovers at the end of the story we call "The Feeding of the Five Thousand" are not an extraneous detail or a bit of embarrassing evidence that Jesus couldn't properly estimate how much additional food to multiply.  The more I read this story, which we've been exploring throughout this week since hearing it in worship this past Sunday, the more I am convinced that the extra food is part of the point of the whole thing.  The baskets full of leftover pieces are a sign of the way God provides--with such overflowing abundance that no one needs to be left out, and everyone's belly can be filled.

The evidence in the gospels would seem to suggest that Jesus has great precision in directing divine power, and he doesn't miss.  He heals people, like the centurion's servant or the Canaanite woman's daughter, without even meeting them or being in the same building with them, which suggests that Jesus is capable of focusing the healing power of God in exactly the right place for exactly the right person even without seeing them.  When Peter asks Jesus about getting the money to pay the temple tax and Jesus tells him to go catch a fish that will have coins in its mouth, the wondrous fish has exactly the change needed for the tax. Apparently Jesus does not go around producing a fortune in coins on a regular basis--he just does this the one time, with no extra money to spare.  Sounds like he does precisely what he intends to do without excess or shortage.

Now, if that train of thought is correct and Jesus isn't getting sloppy with this miracle of loaves and fishes, then it tells me the abundance that produces twelve baskets of leftovers here in this story is not an accident or a fluke, but a choice on Jesus' part.  He intends to provide such a feast that not only is everyone there on the hillside satisfied, but there is more to be shared and passed around beyond that.  The sharing of good things will continue, and even people who didn't come out to find Jesus that day will be given daily bread, too. The gifts Jesus provides will not be limited just to Jesus and his circle of disciples, or even just to the thousands who came out that day to seek Jesus.  The blessings will overflow wider, further, and bigger... because that is the character of our God.

And in a sense, of course, that is precisely how we find ourselves in this story, too.  This is our entry point into the overflowing goodness of God, since none of us were there on that grassy spot in Galilee twenty centuries ago.  We are recipients of the good gifts Jesus keeps giving, because in a sense, the bread never ran out.  From five loaves and two fish (small enough to fit in your own two hands, probably) to satisfying thousands, and then from twelve baskets of leftover fragments to the ongoing table fellowship of Jesus' followers ever since, we discover that there is a place for us at the table because Jesus keeps providing the food that sustains us.  We are welcome at Jesus' banquet because the meal didn't really end, even after all the leftovers had been gathered up and put in the ancient equivalent of Tupperware take-home containers. 

The same is true for others, too, who have been waiting for their gift of daily bread as well.  There is enough to share with everyone who is still waiting to be invited, waiting to discover a place is set for them, waiting to hear, "Take, eat: this is for you."  And so our calling is not just to be an end-point ourselves, but to pass along what is first given to us. If we take seriously that Jesus could have produced only exactly enough for every person in the crowd and not a bite more, but apparently chose to provide abundantly more so that there were baskets full of leftovers, then we have to believe that Jesus intends for divine abundance to keep radiating outward.  We can't help but conclude that God's way of reigning in the world looks like everybody getting enough to eat rather than someone stockpiling their resources to maximize profits when they sell.  We will see that God's vision for the world is for all to have enough, rather than me constantly defining my success or failure by how I compare to the person next to me.  And where I have more than I need, I will share what has been placed in my hands, since all that I have has originally come from God in the first place.

If the abundance in this story is not an accident but the mark of God's fingerprints, then we will view all the good gifts in our lives as divinely-given signs of abundance, which are not meant to be hoarded but shared.  And we will see the world less as an engine run on scarcity and more as an ongoing miracle powered by a generous God.

How will you and I see the world today?

Lord God, open our eyes to the signs of your abundant and overflowing generosity which are all around us.