He was naturally curious. He wanted to see Jesus. He wanted to hear Jesus. And it was quite a hike out to where they were. So of course, being the growing boy that he was, he went prepared. That is, he wanted to be sure he wasn’t going to miss lunch. This thinking-ahead did not go unnoticed.

“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” (John 6:9)

So, when the disciples came to take his about-to-be eaten lunch, I wonder what he was thinking. The disciples didn’t know what Jesus was going to do when they approached him, so they couldn’t have said, “The Master needs to borrow your food so he can use it to feed you, us and everyone else.”

We don’t know what the disciples said when they came to take away his meal. Was there any reticence on his part to hand over his lunch to the disciples?

Children eating well is a big deal. I was a picky eater growing up. My mom told that my growth and future were contingent on my eating enough food every day. “You have to eat,” she would tell me over and over when I struggled to finish a full meal. I’m sure today’s moms and dads are equally concerned that their children eat the right food.

We need food to live. So, giving away food is a little counterintuitive.

It’s not always food that the disciples ask for. Fall ministries are starting back up. Some spots are still open for service.

Snacks in Kindergarten Bible school are Goldfish crackers and sometimes water. Imagine my telling the kids that seven goldfish crackers would feed all 40 of them, even if it’s just for a snack.

Or what about at your place of work? One person’s Bento Box to feed the whole office.

So, this growing boy had a pretty decent lunch for one, and instead of Jesus or the disciples urging him to eat as a parent would, they asked him for his food. They asked him to give it away.

In our world, this is not a normal thing to ask a kid. We develop programs to make sure kids get enough to eat.

But in the new kingdom, God asks us to give away most everything in one way or another: our time given away in service, our clothes given away to the poor, our homes opened as places of refuge in a variety of ways. Our food. What if this is the gateway to giving away even more? This is not a normal, everyday way of living.

A miracle feeding is in every gospel. I wonder if we take it for granted? Have we lost the sensation of what it must have been like to have Jesus take our packed lunch and literally make lunch for thousands of people from it?

I sometimes put my feet in the sandals of the boy. I’m thinking the disciples can have one of my fish and one of my loaves; that way I’ll give some and still have some left over for myself. But this boy gave it all and they took it all. That doesn’t seem right, not healthy, possibly to our modern minds, not even ethical. Jesus still could have done the miracle with just part of the lunch given. After all, he was multiplying food.

What self-care is there when I give away the whole lunch? I mean, isn’t that a little extreme? Out of whack? Not a responsible use of my resources?

And yet that is what Jesus does every single day of our lives. He wants all our fish and all our bread.

If we give away our time and our hearts in service to other people, what might God do? More than enough food for us, that’s what. He gave away everything, and he wants us to come as close as we can to doing the same.

All of life is better when it passes from my hands into the hands of Jesus, the one who has compassion on the hungry crowds. He knows, too, that I am one of the hungry ones. He asks me to give everything not because he doesn’t know that I need food. He knows everything. And he loves.

Lord, don’t let me be just one of the hungry multitude, even though that’s what I am. I long for your call. Choose me even now. I relax my hands. I open them. Here are my words, my time, my attention, my wife and son and home, my food and drink, my heart and soul. Take everything. Use it all as you wish. Help me to give all my fish and bread to you without reservation or hesitation.

Have mercy on me, a sinner.

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. (John 6:12-13)