A lot of us want to know what Jesus would say about food wastage if he were here today. Jesus believed in the art of sharing, He even was able to feed 5000 people with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. This woman who was driving down a street littered with apples from overhead apple trees had something wise to say. She turned to her pastor and said, “Pastor, my grandfather was a farmer in Holland. He always taught us that wasting food was an evil sin. How do you feel about that?”
Like most Christians, her pastor tended to think that sinning was limited to acts of disobedience. After all, what can you do about apples that fell naturally from trees? In fact, that’s how they reproduce. But in John 6:12, after feeding all those people, Jesus said, “When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” Although the food he made was miraculous and he could probably do it again, he still didn’t want any of it to go to waste. The United States wastes approximately half of its food supply. We tend to eat just what’s pleasing to our eyes and ignore the rest. Grocery stores are therefore forced to remove food from their aisles that aren’t aesthetically pleasing to customers.
What we need to understand is that all food is a miracle. It didn’t matter to Jesus that the food he made was a miraculous act. Why? Because all food is miraculously made by God. Making everything we eat miraculous gifts. So why waste something so precious when there are so many people who don’t have it?
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