Then when they were filled, he said to his disciples. Gather together the broken pieces—not the crumbs left on the ground by the satisfied thousands, but the pieces broken from the original loaves (see each of the synoptists, who refer to the breaking, by Jesus, of the loaves)—that remain over—not eaten by the multitudes; the superabundance of the provision is a witness to the affluence of the Giver and the reality of the gift—that nothing be lost.
This sacred economy of Jesus is in harmony with and illustrative of the ways of the Creator with his universe, and of the wisdom recommended to his disciples. The other evangelists describe the facts, but do not attribute the order to the wise words of the Lord himself.