Now Jesus heads back up to Galilee to a town on the sea called Tiberias. It's almost time for Passover again. A huge crowd keeps following him around. They're obsessed with him—they clearly know that he has performed miracles and healed the sick. Jesus climbs up a mountain with his disciples and even then, the massive crowd follows them. Jesus sees how large the crowd is—we're talking five thousand people—Jesus knows he can feed all these people. The disciples don’t though, But Philip is hesitant to ask. He tells Jesus that even six months wages wouldn't be enough to buy bread for a crowd like this. Then Andrew pipes in: There's a boy who has five loaves of bread and two fish. Sure, he's willing to share, but those few bits of food won't feed all these people. Things are not looking good. Jesus ignores their doubts and, instead, tells the disciples that they should have everyone sit down and settle in for a meal. Jesus takes the bread from the boy and gives thanks to God. He does the same thing with the fish. Then he passes it out to the people and everyone eats until they are completely full. When everyone in the crowd is done eating, Jesus asks the disciples to gather up what's left. Remember how they started with only five loaves of bread and two fish? Well, then still they collect twelve baskets full of leftovers. Everyone knows it's a miracle and that Jesus must be a prophet. People get so carried away that they actually want to force Jesus to become their king. Not good. This worries Jesus, so he retreats further up the mountain. This is where Jesus goes to pray to God. He just wants to be alone with God.
That night, the disciples take a boat down to the Sea of Galilee. They are trying to cross over to Capernaum, but there are strong winds blowing and the sea becomes rough. The disciples row out three or four miles. When they look out through the raging storm, they see Jesus walking towards them. Needless to say, they're completely freaked out. Jesus reassures them. It's just him—no need to be afraid. Says the guy walking on water…The disciples ask Jesus to come into the boat and, instantly, the boat reaches land. The next day, the crowd sees that Jesus and his disciples have gone, so they get into their boats and head over to Capernaum, too. When the people manage to track down Jesus, he tells them that they're looking for him not because of the miracles, but because they ate their fill of the bread and fish from the day before. He urges them not to look for food that will rot and spoil, but to search for spiritual food, which will never go bad.
Here are a couple of my paintings
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