A Special Lunch

TEXT: John 6:1-13

Long ago there was a little boy who went to hear Jesus speak. The Bible doesn't tell us his name. But let's call him Zach. Looking around at the crowd on the hillside, Zach saw that a huge crowd of people had gathered to see Jesus. They wanted to hear every word He said.

Zach was standing near one of Jesus' disciples named Andrew, when he heard Jesus speak to Philip, another disciple. Jesus said, "Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?"

Philip said there were too many people to feed. But Jesus was not worried because He already knew what He would do.

Zach looked down at the small, brown bag in his hand. His mother had filled it for him that morning. She had packed just enough lunch for him. But all around him were people with no food. Suddenly Zach knew what he must do.

He spoke to the disciple, Andrew. "Please ... I heard what Jesus said about there being no food for the people. I have a lunch. It's not very much, but I hope Jesus can use it." The disciple looked down at the small bag in surprise. He thanked Zach and turned to Jesus.

Zach watched him, wondering if Jesus would like the two fish and five small loaves in his lunch. He listened as Andrew told Jesus that a young boy had offered to give his lunch to Him. A gentle smile came to Jesus' face. "Have the people sit down," He told His disciples. Zach sat down too, as close to Jesus as he could get. What was going to happen?

Jesus took the bread and fish, looked up to Heaven, and gave thanks for the food. Then He broke the small loaves of bread apart. "Give this to the people," He said, and held out some fish also. The disciples took what Jesus handed them and gave it to the people. Soon all the people were eating.

Zach ate as much bread and fish as he could hold, but he could hardly believe what he was seeing. The disciples kept passing out food. Where did it come from? It never ran out! Soon everyone on the hillside was full. Even the little children who had been so hungry, shook their heads when the disciples offered them more bread or a fish.

Jesus told His disciples to pick up all the food that the people had not eaten. They gathered up twelve baskets of leftovers! Zach had brought just a small bag of fish and bread with him. Now there was more left over than he could ever carry home. Jesus had worked a miracle with the loaves and fishes. How glad Zach was that he had shared!

PARENT'S CORNER

Help your child make a mosaic illustrating the principle of the memory verse for this lesson. Use scraps of various colored construction paper, or get a supply of sample colored chips from a paint or hardware store. Have your child cut these into various shapes.

On each colored piece, help him write some need that God provides for him. Encourage him to think in specifics rather than generalities; for example, strawberry shortcake instead of food. When possible, coordinate the color to the item written on it. For instance, blue might stand for water, yellow for sunshine.

Draw a simple shape on a sheet of white paper, writing the words "God Supplies All My Needs" across the top. Then let your child paste the colored pieces into the mosaic in an attractive pattern.