John 1:1-15
Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee.
A large crowd followed him,
because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.
Jesus went up on the mountain,
and there he sat down with his disciples.
The Jewish feast of Passover was near.
When Jesus raised his eyes
and saw that a large crowd was coming to him,
he said to Philip,
“Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?”
He said this to test him,
because he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip answered him,
“Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough
for each of them to have a little.”
One of his disciples,
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him,
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;
but what good are these for so many?”
Jesus said, “Have the people recline.”
Now there was a great deal of grass in that place.
So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.
Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks,
and distributed them to those who were reclining,
and also as much of the fish as they wanted.
When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples,
“Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted.”
So they collected them,
and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments
from the five barley loaves
that had been more than they could eat.
When the people saw the sign he had done, they said,
“This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.”
Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off
to make him king,
he withdrew again to the mountain alone.
God, being the Creator, has power over His creation, including material objects.
According to the chronicling in the Gospels, Jesus’ first public miracle was the changing of water into wine at a wedding.
The above account in John 1 is another instance of a public miracle by the Second Person of the Triune God — the multiplication of two fish and five loaves of bread into numbers sufficient to feed five thousand people “to the fill,” with leftovers.
We are all familiar with the account of the loaves and fish, but what is often overlooked is Jesus’ frugality:
When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples,
“Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted.”
The dictionary defines “frugality” as “the quality of being frugal, or prudent in saving; the lack of wastefulness”.
Americans, however, are infamous for our wastefulness.
Take food, as an example.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the United States throws away more food than any other country in the world: 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food in 2010, or 30-40% of the entire U.S. food supply.
The U.S. population in 2010 numbered 309,011,469. That means an average of 430 pounds of wasted food per person.
Wasted food is the single largest category of material placed in municipal landfills and represents nourishment that could have helped feed families in need. Additionally, water, energy, and labor used to produce wasted food could have been employed for other purposes.
In fact, according to Recycle Track Systems, Inc. (RTS), a waste and recycling management company, food is the single largest component taking up space inside our landfills, making up 22% of municipal solid waste.
It never ceases to amaze me how much food Americans leave behind on their plates in restaurants — food that can be brought back home in “doggie” bags. I have to suppress my impulse to retrieve the leftover bread on plates, so that I can then break into crumbs for the sparrows and other birds that inhabit our urban landscape.
While I am generally a frugal person, I still manage to waste food because I buy too many veggies that I end up not eating before they rot in the refrigerator. There are at present in my refrigerator a bag of broccoli and a small bag of “baby” carrots that I will need to discard. Aargh!
May the peace of love of Jesus Christ our Lord be with you,
~E
Excellent Sabbath Day lesson. I come away with absolute verification that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God and has the Godly attribute of having innate authority to compel matter to comply to his will . . . as shown by the fact that the barley loaves and fish “increased” at his will; water was turned to wine; the organism that causes leprosy was “willed” to wither and die; in one who was blind, whether it was caused by a pathogen or some structural abnormality of the eye which caused the blindness was “commanded” by His will to cease infecting or to return to normal structural function. There is no doubt that the ability to create or destruct are attributes that The Creator has.
I am not feeling so well today so will not be attending church . . . yet I have been well fed by this wonderful lesson and reminder of the power possessed by the Savior. Thank you so much Dr E.
Sorry you’re under the weather,hope you feel better tomorrow and far beyond. You have no idea how much you’re appreciated.
Thank you Dr.E for this important and wonderful post. This incredible miracle verifies that Our Lord Jesus is a giver, knowing that he only had two fish and five loaves of bread, turning them into enough food to feed approximately 5,000 people who were hungry, because they came from all over the area to hear Jesus teach. What a magnificent miracle! Jesus felt sorry for these people and was empathetic with their basic human needs. He also provided leftovers, which I find most noteworthy, verifying again his generosity and desire to satisfy all of these people with plenty. It is always more hospitable if you are a host or hostess, to feed people with plenty of food, as opposed to having very little or just enough – people are afraid to eat. Hospitality was very important in His culture. Jesus gives “His all” to us, and wants us to give “our all” to Him. We must not be lukewarm – we must be generous in all of our endeavors, and try not to be stingy in using the talents God has given us.
It is definitely a terrible fact that Americans are very wasteful. It is significant that in our individual households that we try to use our food wisely, planning on how to use leftovers, having some kind of menu or plan. I always feel bad when I have to throw away food, reminding me I must be more resourceful with our food.
If you can find an earthworm or two to rescue the next time it rains heavily and they are in danger of drowning on the sidewalk or a driveway, put the little wriggler(s) into the dirt of a potted plant (they will go out of sight into the soil as soon as they realize they have that option). Then you can place bits of veggies underneath the surface for them to eat if you should have veggies that were not consumed soon enough for human requirements. Great for the health of your plants, too. [Tips:] Do not overcrowd per pot, of course, and be mindful to offer your farmerworms bits of apple core (for example) or fresh potato peel or overripe squishy carrot on a regular basis (no sense in their having your plant’s roots as their only feeding option, in other words)–and don’t be surprised if once in awhile a tiny little head should poke itself upward into the air in the middle of the night (a largish pot with uncompacted soil works best so that each worm has enough room to create their microburrows). You will notice that the plant in the pot benefits from the soil aeration, too. [Again, a more spacious pot works best–not one the size of a coffee mug.] After a few years, when I graduated and had to move to another city, I released the little critters–some by now as thick as a shoelace instead of a string, thanks to the veggie bits–into the lawn of the house where I had been renting a student room. There was a moment of pause, then each little worm headed down into my landlord’s grass (hopefully to live contentedly until melding with the earth when its time had come).
Good use of rotting veggies!