Matthew 14:13-21

Mark 6:33-44

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist, he went away into a desert place.  So many people wanted to be with Jesus and hear him teach that they left the cities in great numbers to follow him.  When Jesus saw them, he was “filled with compassion, and he healed their sick.” The Bible says that “he began to teach them many things.”

At the end of the day, Jesus’ disciples pointed out that there was no place nearby for the people to get food.  They asked Jesus to send the people away so they could go to nearby towns to buy food.

Jesus told the disciples to feed the people.  They replied that they didn’t have enough money to buy food for so many people.  Jesus asked them what they did have.  

They only had five loaves of bread and two fish.  With so many people, that would mean each 50 people would share just one slice of bread.  Two fish would not even be enough for each person to have a tiny taste.

Jesus asked that the bread and fish be brought to him.

Feeding the 5000 by R. Leinweber

The Bible reads:

And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.

All the people ate and were filled.  By a miracle, there was plenty for all the people to eat.  Afterwards, Jesus instructed the disciples to gather up what food was left over.  There were 12 baskets full of food left – much more than they started with – and they had fed more than five thousand people!

What do you think?

• The Bible said that Jesus was filled with compassion for the multitude of people.  What is compassion? What can Jesus do for people when he has compassion on them?
• Why did Jesus have compassion on the people?  Would Jesus have compassion on you?
• Is there anything impossible for Jesus?  When he wants to help you, is there anything he cannot help with?
• If we want to do good things but feel we are not enough or do not have enough, what can we learn about bringing our five loaves and two fishes to Jesus?

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