The feedback on this blog endeavor has been extremely positive. So please know I’m grateful for the encouragement sent my way. For my third nameless person I decided to write about someone I know the least about. The reason for this is simply because the Bible says virtually nothing about him…and yet he’s a neat person to consider. In my way of thinking it would be a shame to leave him out. My previous blogs about the slave girl and the centurion with great faith had a plethora of material to work with compared to our subject today. This blog is different. It simply has to be. I hope you enjoy it.

A quick Internet search or a few minutes with a good study Bible could provide you with helpful list of 10 or 11 events that all four gospel writers included in their accounts. One of the stories that would appear on that list would be the miraculous feeding of the 5,000. (Matt 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, and John 6:1-15) More than a few folks call it their favorite miracle and it’s certainly one of the most well-known. What’s really amazing to consider is that the number 5,000 is just the men (Matt. 14:21)…not including the women and children. The point? The official feeding of the 5,000, as we’ve come to know it, might truly be a vast understatement. The number could have easily been 10,000 or more.

My purpose here is not to unpack this miracle in some academic fashion. I merely want to draw your attention to a small detail that’s easily missed in the discussion. Those familiar with this story are aware of the infamous “five loaves and two fish” that play a significant role in the story. Jesus is made aware of these items when He asks the disciples how much food they had on hand. What is interesting is that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all mention the five loaves and two fish…but they do not mention where they came from. John, alone, states in John 6:8-9, One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him (Jesus), “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” All Andrew reveals about the donor is what I’ve indicated in the title of this blog. The five barley loaves and two fish have gone on to become part of the vernacular in Sunday School classrooms and VBS lessons throughout the ages. But we shouldn’t forget the nameless boy who made the donation to the cause. Can you imagine scene? Andrew might have appreciated the boy’s kindness in offering his lunch to help out…but even he could not hide how insignificant he considered the offering to be for such a crowd.

When I was in 6th grade, I attended a brand new elementary school. It was built on the location of my old one that burned to the ground when I was in 3rd grade. During my 4th and 5th grade years, my little class was shipped off to another elementary school where we limped along waiting for ours to be rebuilt. It was an awkward situation for our school and for the ones who went to great lengths to accommodate us. When our new school opened for our 6th grade and final year of elementary school, the building was beautiful on the outside, but not exactly complete on the inside. The library wasn’t finished and neither was the cafeteria. In short, we had to bring sack lunches in little brown paper bags for much of that final year of 6th grade. If you were ever one of those who didn’t care for school lunches…trust me…after a few weeks of eating out of a brown paper bag…a cooked school lunch sounded like a meal from a 5* restaurant. The lunches we brought with us everyday seemed like such small things. A sandwich, perhaps a piece of fruit, maybe leftovers from last night’s supper in some kind of container, possibly a Little Debbie cake or a couple of cookies…that was about as good as it was gonna get…and it was about as good as it could possibly be. It was just a lunch thrown together at your house to get you through the day. No one had anything to brag about. The brown bags looked alike and none of them seemed important. Every morning I simply grabbed mine and ran out to get on the bus with little-to-no concern about the contents. Regardless of what my mom had put in the bag…it was still just a lunch.

Part of me wonders if this boy was thinking the same thing when he headed out the door to hear Jesus speak. I have to believe his 5 loaves and two fish didn’t seem important…just something from home to nibble on for a day or two. Maybe he really didn’t know how long he would be there. Maybe he had a brother or sister with him. The Bible doesn’t say much at all. But there is something really sweet about this boy for he was willing to give what he had to the disciples. JC Ryle, writing about this event, states that some amazing creative powers were at work in this miracle. Jesus is not only going to create food to feed the masses…there is going to be 12 baskets left over…enough for the apostles according to my Sunday School teacher.

Without question this is hard for us to imagine “how” Jesus did it. The supernatural humbles us. But we are also humbled by the little things…or at least we should be. A boy being willing to give up his lunch might, at first, seem as insignificant as a brown paper bag to a 6th grader with a cafeteria under construction. But this boy and his food served as a catalyst for one of the greatest miracles in all of Scripture. Once again, we don’t know his name. But I will leave you with one final thought. Many times during my 6th grade year, I would come home after school and my mom would ask how my day went and if I liked my lunch. I wonder if this boy’s mother asked him, “How did it go? Were the loaves and fish enough to get you through the day?” Imagine the story he had for his mom. 🙂

Blessings,

Bro Mark