The Boy Who Shared His Lunch

A great crowd of people followed Jesus to the far side of the Sea of Galilee. They had seen him heal people who were sick, and they wanted to be near him. Jesus went up a mountainside and sat down with his disciples.

When Jesus looked up, he saw the huge crowd coming. He asked his disciple Philip, "Where can we buy bread, so all these people can eat?" Jesus already knew what he was going to do — he asked to see what Philip would say. Philip answered, "Even a great pile of money would not buy enough bread for everyone to have a little!"

Then another disciple, Andrew, spoke up. "There is a boy here with five small loaves of barley bread and two little fish. But what good is that for so many people?"

Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of soft grass, and everyone sat — about five thousand men. Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and passed the bread out to everyone. He did the same with the fish. Everyone ate as much as they wanted.

When they were all full, Jesus said, "Gather up the pieces that are left, so nothing is wasted." The disciples filled twelve whole baskets with leftover pieces — all from those five little loaves!

When the people saw what Jesus had done, they said, "Truly, this is the prophet who was to come into the world."