Jesus, Kids, and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

How God worked through the love of a parent to provide food for thousands.

“What do you want for dinner tonight?” I asked my 8-year-old daughter.

“Jesus’s favorite dinner!” she exclaimed.

“Ha! What’s that?” I laughed.

“Fish and bread!” she replied.

She has solid evidence to back up her claim.

In John 6, we read the story about Jesus teaching a large crowd on a mountainside. You can imagine them sitting in the grass with their Teacher’s voice reverberating off the rocks so everyone could hear.

As the day wore on, the people grew hungry, but no food could be found. Then, a little boy with five barley loaves and two small fish offered his lunch to Jesus. And I’m sure you know what happened next. Jesus miraculously broke the bread and fish up to create baskets and baskets of food. He fed 5,000 men and their families from one boy’s lunchbox.

Let’s pause and think about the implications here. We’re going to wander a bit into the hypothetical, but I want to draw out some of the relational dynamics and hidden gems in this story.

It’s possible this “boy” was a teenager. However, I think if that were the case, he’d be referred to as a “young man,” just as David was when he fought Goliath. Instead, he’s called a “boy,” just as Jesus was when, at 12-years-old, he went to the Temple without his parent’s permission. You’ll recall, in Luke 2:48, that Mary was greatly distressed searching for her missing “boy.”

So, we can conclude that this boy who gave his lunch to Jesus wasn’t yet a young man but was still thought of as a child by the adults around him.

Based on how distressed Mary became when 12-year-old Jesus went missing, we know it also wasn’t the norm for first century parents in Israel to let their kids travel alone. Just like today, the world was a big and dangerous place. Parents wanted to know where their kids were and who they were with.

It’s possible the boy’s parents were there in the crowd. However, in that case, it seems likely his whole family would have brought lunches too. But they didn’t. As it was, those five loaves and two little fish were the only food found in a sea of people. Plus, the size of the meal sounds about what you’d expect a 12-year-old boy to eat in a day. So, let’s just assume the boy came by himself, and that his mom or dad packed his lunch for him. I suppose it could have been an older sibling or grandparent too, but for the sake of this exercise, let’s go with his mom.

Whenever I make my kid’s meals, I prepare food I know they’ll actually eat. Spaghetti, pizza, and grilled cheese sandwiches are in regular rotation. So, when I think back to this boy’s mom, I wonder if she did the same. Were barley loaves and little fish her boy’s favorite meal? Did Jesus replicate the first century equivalent of chicken nuggets for 5,000 grown men and their families?

It’s an entertaining thing to think about.

And you know, I greatly admire this mom. She wanted her boy to learn from Jesus. She knew Jesus was God, or at least a prophet, and she trusted him to keep her son safe. So, she didn’t tell her son to stay home and do chores. She didn’t demand he keep close and play with the neighbor kids. Instead, she let him travel untold miles up the mountainside to hear the Son of God preach. And she planned ahead too. She knew he’d get hungry, and she didn’t want him to have to come home early.

So, unlike everyone else in the crowd, she packed a lunch. She baked bread from scratch. She fried up the little fish she knew her son would eat. She packed it all in his bag, kissed him goodbye, and she sent her precious child off to meet his Savior.

Surely, this took some level of courage. Surely, she had faith that her boy would be safe.

The other day, I gave my 6-year-old daughter, Gwynevere, a grilled cheese sandwich. After biting into it, she gasped, “Mom! You made me this sandwich one time, and I’ve been wanting you to make it again for like 50 years, but I didn’t know what it was called!”

(For the record, I’d made her a grilled cheese sandwich maybe a week before, but I suppose seven days is as 50 years in a child’s eyes.)

Just imagine what that little boy must have told his mom when he came home from meeting Jesus. “Mom! You know that lunch you made for me of bread and fish? I gave it to Jesus, and he made bread and fish for everyone!”

Imagine how she must have felt in that moment. Her beloved son had met God’s beloved Son. Like Abel who offered a lamb, or the widow who put all her money in the offering box, her boy had given his entire lunch to God. Not just one roll. Not just one fish. He gave God everything he had.

Her simple meal, the work of her hands, the lunch she made to tide her kid over so he could listen to Jesus all day long, enabled thousands to listen to Jesus all day long. Souls had been saved, the sick had been healed, and children had been blessed because she loved her child well. And the blessing she desired for her child – the blessing of listening to Jesus without interruption – was replicated by God 10,000 times over.

Isn’t that a tremendous honor?

I hope and pray that God honors each of us so. For every simple act of kindness, every tired hug, every leap of faith, every packed lunch - I hope he duplicates that 10,000 times over to help people we’ve never met in ways we cannot imagine.

And so, in honor of that mom 2,000 years ago, here’s a simple recipe my kids love. I suppose if Jesus had come in our day and age, he might have fed his audience of 5,000 men chicken nuggets or grilled cheese sandwiches. In which case, they might have enjoyed something like this:

Gwynevere’s Favorite Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Ingredients:

• Salted Butter

• Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, sliced

• 2 Slices White Bread

Directions:

1. First, butter both slices of bread on one side.

2. Heat a frying pan and place the first slice of bread butter-side-down on the hot pan.

3. Lay the cheese on the bread and put the second slice, butter-side-up, on top.

4. Cover the sandwich with foil or a lid to ensure that the cheese melts.

5. Once the bottom slice is lightly browned, use a spatula to flip the sandwich.

6. Unless you’ve already achieved desired cheese meltage, cover it again.

7. Once the second slice is lightly browned, use a spatula to put it on a plate.

8. Give it to your nearest 6-year-old or enjoy it yourself.

Now, some people like to jazz things up using fancy bread, artisan cheese or adding things like spinach or ham. I’ve also heard tomato soup is the ideal side. For me, personally, this is a nostalgic dish, so I use the same ingredients my mom used when I was a little girl.

It’s basically edible happiness.

Much love,

Jenn