Leftovers

Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
2 Kings 4.42-44 Psalm 145 Ephesians 4.1-6 John 6.1-15

I wonder what they did with all the leftovers. They had twelve wicker baskets – probably twelve large baskets – each full of pieces of the bread that started as only five loaves but was enough to feed a multitude. Everyone had plenty to eat – enough to fill them, the gospel says – and Jesus wanted to make sure that nothing was wasted. So he had the disciples gather the leftovers. But then what? What did they do with all the leftovers?

Of course, that’s not really the point. The point of the story in John’s gospel is that Jesus was able to work a miracle, to feed 5,000 men plus women and children with only five loaves and two fish. The point of the story is that Jesus want to feed us, to nourish us – not just physically, but spiritually, too. The point of the story is that God provides for us, not just the bare minimum, but in abundance – if we are really attentive to what God is giving us, we will find that we have more of his love and guidance than we could ever need. This story of the feeding of the multitude prepares us for the Eucharist, the bread and wine that become Christ’s Body and Blood, our regular spiritual nourishment that will never run out. But, still, there were leftovers. It may not be the main point of the story, but it makes you think – what happened to those twelve baskets of bread?

The gospel doesn’t answer that question – it really doesn’t even ask that question. The next thing we know, the disciples are on a boat on the Sea of Galilee, without Jesus, and suddenly Jesus comes walking across the water toward them. The crowd follows them to the other side of the sea, and Jesus spends the next day teaching them not about the bread and fish and physical hunger but about the Bread of Life and spiritual hunger. Perhaps the disciples divided up the leftovers among the crowd for them to take home. Maybe they kept them for themselves, as food for the next part of their own journey. Or maybe the disciples went off and found people who were not part of the crowd on the mountain and gave them the leftovers, maybe the poor or beggars in nearby towns. We don’t know; and it doesn’t really matter. But it should make us think.

What do we do with the abundance God gives us? When we are blessed with more food than we need, do we throw it away, or let it rot, or share it with family members, or take it to a local soup kitchen. When we are blessed with extra time on our hands, what do we do with it? Do we sit in front of the television, watching the latest round of reality TV, or do we exercise to take better care of our bodies or pray to take better care of our souls? When we are blessed with extra money, as hard as that may seem in the midst of a recession, but when we do find extra money in the bank do we spend it right away, or save it for something we’ve always wanted, or do we give part of it away so that people who aren’t as blessed can have a share in our blessings.

The abundance is there, the leftovers are there, if we look hard enough to find them. God has promised to give us everything we need, and to give it in abundance. But that abundance is not for us – it is meant to be shared, and in the sharing we become more like God. What do you do with your leftover blessings?