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Bible Accent: Jesus
Saint for Today: St. Samson
Jesus’ miracle feeds crowd of 5,000
When Jesus learned about the death of his friend and cousin John the Baptist, he borrowed a boat and sailed to a place where he could be alone. But, as always, crowds of people followed him. They watched him from the shore and walked to the place where they thought he would be landing. When Jesus went ashore, he saw many people waiting for him. He put aside his own grief and he healed the sick who had come to him to be cured. He knew there were many people who needed his help.
As the day started to turn into night, the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This is a deserted place and it is already late; dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus shook his head. “There is no need for them to go away,” he said. “Give them some food yourselves.”
The disciples looked at the food they had brought for themselves. They did not want to disagree with Jesus, but they had to tell them what they found. One of them, speaking for them all, said, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”
Jesus ignored the frustration he knew his friends were feeling. “Bring them here to me,” he said. The disciples gathered their fish and bread together and brought them to Jesus. When Jesus had the food in front of him, he told everyone who was there to sit down on the grass.
He stood up, holding the baskets that contained the fish and the bread. He looked toward heaven and asked that his father would bless the food that he had provided for their meal. After he prayed, Jesus began to break the fish and bread into small pieces. He gave these to his disciples, and they distributed the food to all of the people.
At times the disciples had to step around or between the people in order to bring food to them. They did not question what Jesus told them to do. As a result, everyone who was there, the 5,000 men plus many women and children, had enough to eat. After the food that was left over had been collected, there was still enough to fill 12 baskets.
READ MORE ABOUT IT: Matthew14
Q&A
1. Why was Jesus sad?
2. What did Jesus do with the bread and fish?
Bible Accent: Jesus
Jesus was not born into the family of a mighty king, but into the family of a carpenter who was in Bethlehem for the census. When he was 12, Jesus spoke with great wisdom in the temple. Before he started his ministry, when he was approximately 30 years old, he was baptized by John. After that, he preached about the Gospel, healed people who were sick and performed many other miracles. Because he offended some of the powerful religious leaders of the day, they tried to stop him. Eventually they put him to death on the cross. But even that did not stop Jesus. He rose from the dead three days later. After he went to heaven he sent us the Holy Spirit to carry on his father’s work. The Spirit is still helping us today.
Saint for Today: St. Samson
Samson (485-565), was not the strong man of the Old Testament, but the son of a Welsh mother and father who had prayed for a long time that God would bless their marriage with children. When Samson was 5, his parents turned him over to the care of the monks in Glamorgan. Samson was very smart and had a strong sense of service to the Lord. He became a deacon and then a priest. After spending some time as a missionary to a remote island, Samson was appointed abbot of a monastery there. He did not always want to be in the monastery, so he traveled throughout the British Isles ministering and founding churches. Several miracles have been attributed to him, and he earned the respect of both peasants and kings. We remember him on July 28.
