John 6:12 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost."

NIV: When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted."

NASB: And when they had eaten their fill, He *said to His disciples, 'Gather up the leftover pieces so that nothing will be lost.'

CSB: When they were full, he told his disciples, "Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted."

NLT: After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, 'Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.'

KJV: When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.

NKJV: So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.”

The initial problem faced by the disciples seemed insurmountable: a crowd of thousands, looking for food. The throng wasn't going to leave (Mark 6:36), there was not enough money to feed everyone (John 6:7), and all they could scrounge up was barely enough to feed one boy (John 6:9). In response, Jesus miraculously provides not just a solution, but an abundance, more than was needed to solve the problem (John 6:13). Everyone eats "their fill," from the Greek eneplēsthēsan, which refers to being satisfied, full, or satiated. Every person in that massive audience was able to eat until their hunger was gone.

This teaches two primary lessons. First, the disciples were overly concerned with their own efforts. Assuming the problem was unsolvable, worrying about money, and despairing over limited resources were all signs that their first thoughts were earthly, not heavenly. Instead of lamenting how massive the need is, our approach should be to simply bring God all we have and let Him handle the results. When God gives us a challenge, He expects us to apply effort and resources to it (Colossians 3:23–25), but at the same time He wants us to proceed in faith, not in despair (Luke 10:2). That begins by putting the matter in God's hands, first, which is exactly what Jesus did.

The second lesson is that of perspective. The disciples' money seemed impossibly limited; the boy's meal seemed impossibly small. And yet, in the hands of Christ, what seemed small and insignificant became so abundant that people had to be careful not to waste the leftovers! In the same way, while our personal skills or our resources might seem pathetic, Christ can leverage those tiny assets into powerful results. The power and the results are both His. We are only called to faithfully give Him all we have, even if it seems like it's not enough.

John 6:1–15 describes the fourth of the gospel's seven ''signs'' of Christ's divinity. This is the only miracle recorded in all four of the gospel accounts. When the crowd complains of hunger, the disciples each react in unique ways. Starting with only a tiny meal of bread and fish, Jesus miraculously divides the food, filling everyone, and leaving more left over than they had to begin with. The people are astounded and immediately react by proclaiming Jesus as ''the Prophet'' who has been promised. Jesus, however, is not yet ready to be publicly announced. He also knows the true motivations of this crowd and will attempt to explain the real importance of the miracle to them the following day.

In chapter 6, Jesus feeds thousands of people who had been following Him. He does this by miraculously dividing the contents of a small meal, leaving more left over than He had to begin with. At first, the crowd is amazed and they enthusiastically praise Jesus. After sending the disciples across the Sea of Galilee and rescuing them from a storm by walking on the water, Jesus once again addresses the crowd. This time, He emphasizes the spiritual lesson behind His prior miracle. In response, most of those who had been praising Jesus turn away in disappointment.

John chapter 6 occurs some months after the events of chapter 5, bringing the narrative to about one year prior to Jesus' crucifixion. As with the rest of the gospel of John, the purpose is not to repeat information from the other three Gospels, but to focus on Jesus' status as God incarnate. This chapter continues to expand the list of Jesus' miraculous signs and the witnesses to His divine nature. Here, Jesus also gives the first of seven ''I am'' statements found in this gospel. Chapter 7 will once again skip ahead to a major public step in Jesus' path to the cross.

The disciple John wrote the gospel of John decades after the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls "signs"— to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.