A Boy Shares His Lunch

This is the story of a boy, a small lunch, and a very big surprise.

One day, Jesus crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, a big lake with hills all around it. A huge crowd followed him. They had seen him make sick people well, and they wanted to be near him. Jesus climbed up a hillside covered in soft green grass, and sat down with his disciples, his closest friends. When Jesus looked up, he saw people coming, and coming, and coming. Men and women, grandmas and grandpas, boys and girls.

They had walked a long way, and soon, tummies were starting to rumble. Jesus turned to his friend Philip and asked, "Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?" Now, Jesus already knew what he was going to do. He was testing Philip, to see what he would say. Philip looked out at the enormous crowd, and did some quick math in his head.

Even with lots and lots of money, he said, they couldn't buy enough bread for everyone to have even a little bit. Then another disciple came to Jesus. His name was Andrew, and he was Simon Peter's brother. Andrew said, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these among so many?"

Five little loaves of bread, and two small fish. That's a lunch for one hungry boy, not for a whole hillside of people! But the boy let Jesus have his lunch. All of it.

Can you imagine? Holding out your lunch to Jesus, with thousands of hungry people all around? Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." So everyone sat down on the grass. There were about five thousand men, and the women and children too! Then Jesus took the loaves, and he gave thanks to God for them.

He said thank you to God for the food, just like we can do before we eat. Then he began to share out the bread, and his disciples passed it around to the people sitting on the grass. And here's the amazing part. The bread didn't run out!

They handed out bread, and more bread, and more bread! And the fish too, as much as anyone wanted. Everyone ate until they were full. Not one tummy was left rumbling.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Gather up the broken pieces which are left over, that nothing be lost." Jesus didn't want any of God's good gifts to go to waste. So the disciples went all around the hillside with baskets, picking up the leftovers. When they were done, they had filled twelve baskets! There was far more left over than the boy had at the start.

When the people saw this, they were amazed. They said Jesus must truly be the one God had promised to send into the world.

I wonder what that boy told his family when he got home that night! A little lunch, given to Jesus, had fed a hillside full of people.

This story teaches us that when we share what we have, even something small, Jesus can do great things with it.

No gift is too little when we give it with a kind heart.