Twelve Baskets of Leftovers

Apart from Jesus’ own resurrection, the only miracle appearing in all four Gospels is that of Jesus’ using just five loaves and two fish to feed a crowd that included 5,000 men. Every Gospel account tells us that after the people ate and were satisfied, the disciples collected 12 baskets of leftovers (see Matt. 14:20; Mark 6:42-43; Luke 9:17; John 6:12-13; [also see Matt. 15:37; Mark 8:8 from accounts of Jesus’ feeding of the crowd of 4,000]). From John’s account (see 6:12) we learn that Jesus directed His disciples to “collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.” It is no surprise that Jesus would avoid waste. Wastefulness is reflective of laziness and poor stewardship, and it is inconsistent with productive, diligent work. Here are some Bible passages that condemn wastefulness (however implicitly).

• “The LORD God took the man and place him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it” (Gen. 2:15).
• “A lazy man doesn’t roast his game, but to a diligent man, his wealth is precious” (Prov. 12:27; also see 15:19; 28:19).
• “One man pretends to be rich but has nothing; another pretends to be poor but has great wealth” (Prov. 13:7). A poor person who acts as if he or she is rich surely must be wasteful with resources. That must be why that man or woman “has nothing.”
• “If you find honey, eat only what you need; otherwise, you’ll get sick from it and vomit” (Prov. 25:16). Wasting food doesn’t just mean throwing it out, but also “throwing it in” when we don’t need it.
• “If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen its edge, then one must exert more strength; however, the advantage of wisdom is that it brings success” (Eccl. 10:10). Wisdom helps us avoid wasting time and energy.
• “Because of laziness the roof caves in, and because of negligent hands the house leaks” (Eccl. 10:18).
• “He [Jesus] then told them, ‘Watch out and be on guard against all greed because one’s life is not in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15).
• “The younger son [in Jesus’ parable] gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living” (Luke 15:13; see vv. 11-32 for the context).
• “Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For everything that belongs to the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does God’s will remains forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

In addition to the above passages, each section in Matthew 25 (vv. 1-13, vv. 14-30, vv. 31-46) commends good stewardship and implicitly warns against wastefulness.

Having said all of this, we must also acknowledge that the Scriptures also affirm that on certain occasions and in some circumstances, we do well to be generous and even lavish in our use of money and other resources (see Matt. 26:6-13 [also Mark 14:3-9; John 12:1-8]; 2 Cor. 8–9, esp. 9:6). This is different from being wasteful.