A restaurant owner once told me that the customers
are usually having “big eyes & small
stomach” --- meaning they like to try every dish on the menu, so they
order more than they can possibly eat, and leave plenty of food unfinished. When
asked if they wish to take away the food, the usual answer is: “No, no one is going to eat it.”
About 50 percents of food produced worldwide is discarded & wasted –
Before food reaches our mouth, it has to go through stages of tests &
obstacles: First, there is a “beauty contest” at the farms: Those with
appearance that do not conform to customers’ preferences are out. Then those
that make the cut then take a long flight and travel thousands of miles to the
supermarkets & shops, but then those with small blemishes are overlooked by
shoppers and end up in the supermarkets’ garbage bins. The fortunate ones that
are bought home do not stay happy for too long, because they are forgotten
inside the fridge. Finally, against all odds, some food gets cooked and turned
into a delicious meal on the dining table, yet another pile of them are left
uneaten……
2000 years ago at Tabgha, on the northwestern shore of the Sea of
Galilee, Jesus gave a feast to thousands of people. What comes to mind when you
hear the term “feast of thousands”? Piles of used plates & cups? Massive
amount of leftovers? Let’s see how chapter 6 of the book of John recorded this
event.
To be more accurate, that was actually a large-scale picnic. A great multitude
followed Jesus to Tabgha. Jesus saw that everyone was hungry, and he had
compassion on them and wanted to provide them with food. There were about 5,000
men at the scene; add the wives and children, and the crowd was probably at
least 10,000-20,000 strong. But this was not a problem at all for Jesus. He
picked up the only five loaves of barley bread and two fish, gave thanks, blessed
the food, then asked his disciples to distribute the food to the crowd. Amazingly,
everyone got his or her portion. It was truly a miracle!
Then came clean-up time. Jesus said to his disciples: “Gather the pieces
that are left over, let nothing be wasted.” They gathered the left over and
filled 12 baskets with pieces of the five barley loaves left over --- Wow!
Jesus is truly a good example: He did not waste food, and He did not create any
waste!
In term of the amount of food, Jesus used only five loaves and two fish
to feed over 10,000 people. But our modern day banquets are the opposite: We
use up food that is enough to feed a whole village for a banquet. Hong Kong, the
“Gourmet Capital”, had come to the realization of this bad practice, thus they pioneered
by cutting the traditional eight-courses of meal to six courses, well done!
If even Jesus did not feel embarrassed about taking away left over food,
why should we? The next time we go out to eat, let’s proudly bring along food
containers and take home the leftovers. Moreover, even though Jesus can create
food any time he wants, He did not waste a single bit. As the world is facing
global warming, scarcity of harvest of crops, and more than 1 billion of people
are undergoing starvation, why would we think that we have the right and luxury
to waste food?
Hui-Zhi
( Published
in Asian Beacon under the title of “Did Jesus waste food?”, Dec-Jan 2012 issue )
(
Chinese version was published in the “Shepherd” section of Nanyang Siang Pau,
2012.9.9 )
