Twelve Baskets Left Over: The Beauty of God’s Grace
Friday of the Second Week of Easter // April 17th, 2026 // John 6:1-15
At the beginning of today’s Gospel, we are told that many people followed Jesus because they knew of the signs He had been performing. Whether or not they understood Jesus to be the Messiah at this point, one thing is for certain: they were attracted to the love of God that was shown through His actions. In everything we do as followers of Christ, we must strive to show the love of God; more importantly, when we partake in good acts, we must do so with the intent to point everything back to Him, not ourselves. We should want everyone we encounter to experience the joy of what a life following Jesus provides.
In verse 3, we see Jesus going up a mountain and sitting down with his disciples; just a few verses later, after being told of the shortage of bread and fish, Jesus wants the people to sit down. This passage is highly symbolic; in the Old Testament, we see Moses going up Mount Sinai to talk to God. Jesus goes up the mountain, sits down with the people, and subsequently distributes an abundant amount of bread and fish to them after giving thanks. God is found at the top of the mountain in both of these scenarios. In the Old Testament, he meets Moses at the top to speak with him. In the Gospel today, Jesus shows Himself as God by meeting His people at the top of the mountain and speaking to them, making possible what seems impossible by multiplying the bread and the fish. And, while doing so, He is sitting with the people. He is getting on their level; He is showing the love He has for them. In His very Incarnation, Jesus got on our level in becoming human because He wanted to understand us in an even deeper way. He continuously shows the love of God in this way and even more so as He reveals His divinity.
Twelve baskets are filled with fragments from the fish and the loaves. The number twelve carries much significance in salvation history. The twelve sons of Jacob became the twelve tribes of Israel, God’s people. In this age of the New Covenant, there are twelve apostles leading the New Israel, and they gather fragments of a new covenant meal for God’s people. The Lord continually shows us that we are specially chosen by Him; Jesus performs miracles all around us so that we may know who He truly is and how He loves us.