Jesus was always stretching the Rockheads to the limit. They had found one young boy with a “happy meal.” That wasn’t even enough for Jesus and the Twelve. Buy lunch? It would take a year’s wages to feed 5000 men and their families. Even if they had that kind of cash on hand, what bakery or grocery store would have that much food to sell? He’s got to be kidding. They wanted to say, “It’s not like we can call manna down from heaven like Moses.”

Of course, there was Someone standing in front of them who was greater than Moses. Note the similarities to the situation Moses and the Children of Israel faced: Lots of people out in the wilderness, hungry, no easy source of food. What do you do? Send them home? After all, aren’t they foolish for coming unprepared? How impulsive of them to follow Jesus out to the middle of nowhere!

But that very impulsiveness moved Jesus to compassion. At least for the moment, these people had made being with Jesus the most important thing of their life… more important than food. As Moses wrote, “…man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3) And aren’t the sayings of the Lord “…more to be desired... than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” (Psalm 19:7-11)

I don’t know if the Rockheads made the connection with Moses and the Children of Israel and the manna, but the parallel wasn’t lost on the multitudes. When they caught up to Jesus on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, they said, “Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ “ The same God who showered manna down on Moses and the Children of Israel was standing in right in front of them in the Person of His Son, Jesus. (see John 6:25-58)

The Lord always uses what we have and makes more out of it. Jesus prayed over the little boy's lunch and broke it into pieces. The disciples passed it out... probably wondering if they themselves would get anything to eat. How ironic that when the disciples gathered up the leftovers they filled 12 baskets... one for each of them.

2. You may not have much but are you willing to give it all to Jesus? Do you believe He can multiply what little you have into a blessing for many people? Are you worried that if you give too much away, there won’t be enough left over for you?