Twelve Baskets of Fragments - John 6:13

The apostle John wrote how, “Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he said unto Philip, Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said unto him, There is a lad here, which has five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost”, and in chapter six and verse thirteen of his book, John shared how Jesus' disciples, “filled twelve baskets with the fragments” where we read:

Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.

The verse reads, “Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, ...”. John began with the words, “Therefore” or “then, wherefore, consequently and these things being so” “they gathered them together” which means “Jesus' disciples collected the fragments of the loaves and fishes”, “and filled twelve baskets” or “and filled completely full twelve wicker baskets” “with the fragments” or “with the pieces” “of the five barley loaves” which means “of the five loaves of bread which was made from barley”. John shared how Jesus' “disciples” obeyed Him, collected all the “pieces of bread and fish” from the crowd, and completely filled “twelve” wicker “baskets” with them.

The verse continues, “... which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.” John added the words, “which remain” which means “that was leftover” “over and above unto them” or “exceeding and greater in number that” “that had eaten” which means “the amount which it took to completely satisfy all the crowd consumed and devoured”. John shared how the “twelve baskets” were completely filled with the leftover pieces of bread and fishes which were distributed and eaten by the multitude.

When we think through John's words in this verse, we see how Jesus more than satisfied the need for food for the people who followed Him. Though there were about “five thousand men”, plus the women and children, who ate till they were completely satisfied, “twelve baskets” of leftovers were collected by His “disciples”. By this miracle Jesus demonstrated that He was “God come in the flesh”, the Messiah, Christ and Savior of the World, and He is able to more than satisfy the needs of people. He will save everyone who yields their life to Him, so let all who read these words carefully consider Jesus who does all things more than abundantly well.

Next time John shares how the people say, “this is the prophet that should come into the world”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".