The feeding of the 5000 - Luke 9:12-22 - # 157

The feeding of the 5000

12 Late in the afternoon all twelve of the disciples came and urged him to send the people away to the nearby villages and farms, to find food and lodging for the night. “For there is nothing to eat here in this deserted spot,” they said. 13 But Jesus replied, “You feed them!” “Why, we have only five loaves of bread and two fish among the lot of us,” they protested; “or are you expecting us to go and buy enough for this whole mob?” 14 For there were about 5,000 men there! “Just tell them to sit down on the ground in groups of about fifty each,” Jesus replied. 15 So they did. 16 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish and looked up into the sky and gave thanks; then he broke off pieces for his disciples to set before the crowd. 17 And everyone ate and ate; still, twelve basketfuls of scraps were picked up afterwards! 18 One day as he was alone, praying, with his disciples nearby, he came over and asked them, “Who are the people saying I am?” 19 “John the Baptist,” they told him, “or perhaps Elijah or one of the other ancient prophets risen from the dead.” 20 Then he asked them, “Who do you think I am?” Peter replied, “The Messiah—the Christ of God!” 21 He gave them strict orders not to speak of this to anyone. 22 “For I, the Messiah,must suffer much,” he said, “and be rejected by the Jewish leaders—the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the Law—and be killed; and three days later I will come back to life again!”