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Jesus and the boy with the food basket

Jesus serves 5 loaves and 2 fish to over 5,000 people.
Contributed by Lars-Goran Ronnberg
Story also available on our translated websites: Spanish, Portuguese
1
A boy packed a lunch with small loaves of bread and fish into his basket and set off. Everyone was talking about Jesus and how He healed the sick. News had arrived that Jesus was on a nearby hillside and the boy followed others from his village to see Him. – Slide 1
2
Jesus and His twelve disciples had arrived in boats and lots and lots of people had gathered to see Him. Over five thousand men plus lots of women and children were there. – Slide 2
3
The boy found a good place to sit on a long hill slope by the sea and see and hear everything that was going on. – Slide 3
4
Many had brought friends who were sick as Jesus had God’s power to heal them. – Slide 4
5
The boy was so happy when he saw lame people who could not walk being healed and then running and jumping and praising God. – Slide 5
6
Those who had been blind could now see for the first time and they also praised God and Jesus. – Slide 6
7
Jesus taught the people from morning and then all afternoon but nobody wanted to go home. So many exciting things had happened and the boy had not had time to eat much of the food in his basket. – Slide 7
8
Jesus taught the people how to live as God wanted. He taught them about the Kingdom of God and forgiveness. – Slide 8
9
Many wanted to find God’s forgiveness and have His love in their hearts. Those who had done stupid things against others also had to ask for forgiveness. – Slide 9
10
It was now evening and soon it would become dark. No one wanted to go home but everyone was now hungry. – Slide 10
11
The disciples knew this was a remote place. Philip said, ‘I’ll go and tell Jesus to stop now so that the people can go home or get to one of the local villages to eat before it becomes dark.’ – Slide 11
12
But when Philip suggested this to Jesus He replied, ‘They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.’ – Slide 12
13
Philip and the disciples were puzzled, ‘It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for everyone in this large crowd.’ – Slide 13
14
The boy heard everything. He had five barley loaves and two fishes left in his basket. ‘I could give my food basket to Jesus,’ he thought. – Slide 14
15
The boy went to one of Jesus' disciples named Andrew. ‘I want to give my food basket to Jesus!’ Andrew said, ‘Okay, so you have five bread loaves and two little fishes you want to give to Jesus! Then you have to come down to Jesus!’ – Slide 15
16
Jesus, here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’ Andrew asked. – Slide 16
17
But Jesus said, ‘It is enough! We need no more!’ The disciples were very surprised! – Slide 17
18
Jesus turned to His disciples and said, ‘Get everyone to sit down on the grass in groups of fifty. – Slide 18
19
The disciples began organising the people into smaller groups. Everyone waited. What was going to happen? They were so hungry. – Slide 19
20
‘How can Jesus share five small loaves of barley bread and two fish among such a huge crowd?’ people wondered. – Slide 20
21
‘It is good of the boy to share his food,’ muttered others, ‘but this is ridiculous.’ – Slide 21
22
Then everyone went silent and all eyes looked at Jesus. The disciples began to be ashamed. They thought, ‘Five loaves of bread and two fish for so many people. Would they start laughing at them?’ – Slide 22
23
Jesus took the five loaves and two fish in His hands, held them up. He gave thanks to God and prayed that He would bless the food. – Slide 23
24
Jesus then broke the food into smaller pieces and gave some to each of His disciples. – Slide 24
25
‘Go and share the bread and fish with the people sitting down,’ said Jesus. He was testing their faith. – Slide 25
26
The disciples looked at the small pieces of food and then looked at the large crowd. But they trusted Jesus and did what He said. – Slide 26
27
Incredibly, as they gave the food away they had more and more to give away. – Slide 27
28
Jesus and the boy also ate bread and fish. The boy was so happy to be with Jesus and know that Jesus had blessed his food. – Slide 28
29
Everyone had more than enough to eat and they kept eating until they were full and all the people were praising God. Jesus then told His disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted. – Slide 29
30
Nobody wanted to leave, so Jesus told the people that they must go home now. They went home, happy to have been with Jesus on this fantastic day. – Slide 30
31
The disciples had gathered twelve baskets full of food so they now had their food basket and they were so happy. No one had laughed at them. Everyone loved Jesus. Then the disciples went into their fishing boats to sail over to the other side of the Galilean lake. – Slide 31
32
Jesus went up on a mountain to spend time alone and pray to His father in heaven. – Slide 32
33
As for the boy, he returned home after the most exciting day of his life. He had met Jesus and was so happy that Jesus had blessed his food basket so that it fed thousands of people. – Slide 33
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Slide 34