They … filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.
You may have heard it said that Jesus didn’t really miraculously multiply the loaves, and that the crowd just somehow became full from the original five loaves and two fish. Perhaps their appetites were just satiated by their elation in being with Jesus. We’ve all had that kind of excitement before, where we are so ecstatic about what we are experiencing at the moment that we forget our appetite, and a few peanuts seem to satisfy us just fine. Is that what the Gospel is talking about here? Well, no. And we know it’s not because the Gospel says the leftovers were enough to fill twelve wicker baskets. Unless the five loaves were gigantic to begin with, or the baskets were extremely tiny, it makes no sense for the leftovers to fill twelve baskets unless the original amount of food was actually multiplied. How can this be so, though? How did Jesus do this? We can start by admitting that he is God and can do anything. But perhaps a small example that we are all familiar with can help demonstrate the economy of heaven. When there is a disaster like a tornado, for instance, at first the community the tornado hits is devastated physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, you name it. Then a few people decide they are not going to give in to despair. Or a small group from a neighboring town decides they’re not just going to look the other way. They decide to do something about it. They start to rebuild. People from out of town start to donate and pitch in. Slowly the charity of other people multiplies. What began as small acts of faith and charity from a few people became a movement to rebuild the town. What Jesus did here is much more miraculous than that example, but if we mere humans can multiply our own faith and charity, think of how much more God can do.
