Seven Baskets Left

We are privileged to celebrate this Supper on Pentecost Sunday, the day when God in His mercy made it abundantly clear that He had given His Son, the bread from Heaven, as the life of the world.

In the gospel of Mark, Jesus miraculously feeds the multitudes on two occasions. In the first instance, in chapter 6, there are twelve baskets of leftovers, a number that represented the twelve tribes of Israel. Two chapters later, the number of baskets left over was seven, a number that Jews used to represent universality. Even the words used for the baskets are different in the two accounts. In the first, the word refers to a Jewish lunch basket, and in the latter instance, it refers to a basket used by Gentiles for shopping. This, and the location of the two miracles, indicate that the crowd was largely Jewish in the first instance, and was perhaps Gentile in the second.

This is also the import of Pentecost Sunday. In the great miracle of bestowing praise in multiple languages, the point was being made very clearly. This gospel, this grace, is for all men. If you are a Jew, you are summoned to believe in Jesus, and take your seat at this Table. If you are a Gentile, you are invited to come in from your far country, and take your seat as well.

The middle wall of partition has been broken down—the wall separating Jew and Gentile. That wall was not broken down so that we might erect others of a similar nature. No, what God has done here, He has done forever. Red and yellow, black and white—come.

We make this statement also with leavened bread. The Passover requirement did not just require an absence of leaven from the bread—it could not even be around. But at Pentecost, the presence of leaven was required, which means that the Passover requirements are superseded. This is our peace offering, and we use leavened bread for it (Lev. 7:13). The leaven here in this loaf represents the kingdom of God itself, working through the loaf of the whole world (Matt. 13:33), until the whole thing is transformed.

And when the Great Commission is fulfilled, and all the nations are converted to Christ, we will be glad in that day to find that seven baskets are left over.