One boy’s food fed thousands
Everywhere Jesus went, large crowds followed him to see the wonderful things he did—healing sick people and preaching about God’s kingdom. A young boy followed thousands of men and women and children on foot. It was probably his mom who gave him some food for the trip—five small barley loaves and a couple of dried fish.
When the crowd finally caught up with Jesus, the boy was able to get close to Jesus. He must have seen how the Master felt nothing but love for all who came to him. To Jesus, they were like lost sheep without a shepherd to guide them. So he spoke to them tenderly about God and healed the ones who were sick.
When it started getting dark, Jesus wanted to give food to the people. The boy probably noticed that Jesus’ disciples were anything but happy about this. How could they possibly take care of all those tired, hungry men, women, and children? the disciples wondered. They begged Jesus to send the crowds away. But he wouldn’t do it. There were no villages nearby, and he didn’t want the people to faint with hunger.
Jesus said to the disciples, “You give them something to eat.” Well, that sounded impossible. “Don’t you know that it would take almost a year’s wages just to buy only a little bread for each of these people?” they said.
Then, Jesus’ disciple Andrew told him about the boy with five loaves and two fish. The boy was willing to share his food. “But what good is that with all these people?” Andrew said.
Jesus saw it differently, though. He told the disciples to have the people sit down on the green grass, to prepare for a meal. They sat in groups of 50 and 100, and watched Jesus take the boy’s loaves and fish—and thank God for them. Then, he started breaking the loaves and fish into pieces, and handing them to the disciples to share with the people.
You can read the story of Jesus feeding the thousands in John 6:1–14 , Matthew 14:13–21 , 15:29–38 , Luke 9:10–17 , and Mark 6:30–44 . The Bible quotes in this story come from the Contemporary English Version.
And you know what? The bread and fish multiplied in Jesus’ hands! The boy must have been amazed to see what happened with his food. It multiplied and multiplied—until every last one of those 5,000 men, plus women and children, had eaten! And there was plenty left over. Jesus, who did not want to waste the food, asked the disciples to pack up the leftovers. So each one of them filled the basket he carried around his waist with food for another day.
What a lesson the boy and all the people learned that day! By his example, Jesus had taught everyone about the Christ, which Mary Baker Eddy calls “the divine manifestation of God” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 583 ). When we give to others whatever little we can, like the boy did, the Christ will do something wonderful with it!
About the author
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