Matthew 14:14-20

Matthew 14:14-20 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither to me. 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. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. Jesus was a great teacher and the people came out to hear Him speak. But they had walked many miles that day, and night was coming on. They didn’t mind camping out under the stars, but they hadn’t eaten all day. And they were getting so very hungry. The children were whining and the babies were crying. It was too far to the nearest village. What were they going to do? But Jesus had the answer. He borrowed five barley loaves and two fishes from a little boy and prayed. And then he broke the little loaf of bread in half and gave one piece to a disciple. Then Jesus broke that part into half and gave it to another disciple. And then Jesus gave another piece to another disciple, and on and on and on. When a disciple gave his portion to someone, he came back to Jesus, and Jesus had some more bread to give to him to hand out to someone else. Soon everyone had enough food - all five thousand men besides their wives and children! They even had twelve baskets of food fragments left over. Wow! Each disciple had a full basket of left-overs to carry. What a good reminder to them! And what a good reminder to us!