One fine day, Jesus was with his disciples at a large lake. Many, many people followed them. Everyone wanted to hear and see Jesus. It was as if the people were a large, colorful meadow of flowers.
Jesus sat down on a hill, and the crowd came closer and closer. People listened to Jesus talk about God and His love. But soon the bellies of the people began to growl, for it was evening and no one had anything to eat.
Jesus asked his disciple Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that all these people can have something to eat?” Philip looked at the crowd and said, “Even if we had a lot of money, we couldn’t buy enough bread.”
Then another disciple, Andrew, brought a little boy to Jesus. This boy had his own little lunch with him: five small loaves of bread and two small fish. That was all he had, but he wanted to share it with Jesus. Andreas said: “But what is that for so many people?”
Jesus smiled at the boy and said, “Let the people sit down.” The people sat down on the grass, and Jesus took the five loaves and the two fishes. Then he looked up to heaven and thanked God with a prayer. Then he broke the bread and the fish into pieces and gave them to the disciples. The disciples distributed the food to the people.
It was like a miracle! Everyone ate as much as they wanted, and everyone was satisfied. Then the disciples collected all the leftovers and filled twelve baskets with leftover bread. That was more than they had at the beginning!
People were amazed at this miracle and said, “This is really a prophet that God has sent to us!”
Message of history
God can make something great out of small things if we share with Him what we have.
Bible passage
The story of Jesus feeding the 5000 is found in John 6:1-14. Here is the text from the Schlachter 2000 translation:
“Then Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee near Tiberias. 2 And a great crowd followed him, because they saw the signs that he did to the sick. 3 And Jesus went up to the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. 5 When Jesus lifted up his eyes and saw that a great crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where do we buy bread so that they can eat?” 6 And he said this to test him; because he himself knew what he wanted to do. 7 Philip answered him, “For 200 denarii of bread is not enough for them, for each of them to get a little.” 8 Then one of his disciples, Andrew the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fishes; But what is that for so many? 10 But Jesus said, “Let the people sit down.” But there was a lot of grass in the place. Then the men, about 5,000 in number, sat down. 11 And Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those who had sat down; likewise [teilte er] from the fish as much as they wanted. 12 When they were satisfied, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the remaining fragments, so that nothing will perish.” 13 So they gathered and filled twelve baskets with chunks of the five barley loaves that were left over to those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that Jesus performed, they said, “This is truly the prophet who is to come into the world.”
