This was more than lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes; it was carb heaven – including cheesy bread, pasta salad and potato bake to boot.
No-one went home hungry.
But Sizzlers did not invent the all-you-can-eat buffet. Jesus did. Well, sort of.
When Jesus fed the 5000 in John 6, everyone “had as much as they wanted” (6:11). No-one went without.
And when his disciples collected the leftovers, they “filled twelve baskets” (6:13).
There was all you can eat and more!
And earlier in the day, one of the disciples, Philip, said eight months wages would not have bought enough bread for them to have eaten even “a little”.
And Jesus comes along and gives them a lot.
By doing this Jesus demonstrated that life in him, the life he offers to those who trust in him, is a life of plenty – of abundance.
Words like plenty and abundance, even lavish, excessive and overflowing, properly describes this scene.
It describes how there is more than enough when we come to Jesus.
Not long after the feeding of the 5000 Jesus declared: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 3:35).
Jesus is taking about how he satisfies the deep yearning of our soul; a spiritual satisfaction that is beyond the things of this material world.
In Jesus we can find a life of forgiveness and grace. Of salvation. Of peace with God. Of love. Of joy. Of hope. Of an eternal and everlasting place in heaven.
This is the all-you-can-eat buffet that Jesus offers.
Is that what your life looks like today?
~ Contributed by Pastor Chris Taylor of the Deniliquin Baptist Church, on behalf of the Combined Churches of Deniliquin.
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