| Thousands of People Fed |
| Jesus was getting more and more popular. People decided they wanted Jesus to be their king instead of bad King Herod. But Jesus wanted to be alone at that time. He was very sad that his dear friend, John the Baptizer, had been killed. How he missed John. He cried for John. The people searched and searched for Jesus until they found him up in some hills. They begged him to tell them more about the Kingdom of God. Jesus felt sorry for them. In no time they realized the sun was going down and no one had eaten all day. They were so far from the nearest town, they would fall down in weakness trying to walk back. So Jesus asked his apostles to find some food among the crowd. Andrew found a little boy with his lunch of five rolls and two dried fish. Jesus smiled and said that was plenty to feed 5000 families. Then he divided the little bread and fish into 12 baskets and told his apostles to hand it out to the people. Every time someone took some of it, more grew back in the basket. "It's a miracle!" they said. Everyone was laughing. Jesus, too, was laughing. Everyone wanted to crown Jesus king right then and there. Jesus wanted to be the king of their minds and hearts, not a king with a crown and castle. So he sent everyone away and returned to the hills alone. Later when he went back to town, a lot of people went to hear him preach in the synagogue. They wanted more bread. Jesus replied that they could live forever by eating the bread of his words. That made them mad. They all got up and walked out. Jesus was all alone now except his twelve apostles. He was very sad because people just wanted Jesus for what he could give them right now. Jesus and his apostles left and went to another country for awhile because King Herod might want to kill them after killing John the Baptizer. When Jesus returned closer to his own country, people weren't mad at him any more. So some 4000 families went out to hear him and be healed. They stayed with him for three days and ran out of food. So Jesus fed tham all with a few dried fish and little rolls ~ another miracle. Then Jesus sent them all home. They knew he must leave again to be safe from King Herod. They still wished he would become king instead of bad King Herod. God can take a little seed that is in the ground and make it grow into a tomato, or corn, or any kind of food the seed came from. God is still performing miracles like that for you today. |