Day
2
Feeding
Multitudes
When
Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them and healed their
sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to Him and said, “This is a
remote place and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can
to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
Jesus
replied, “They do not need to go away.
You give them something to eat.”
“We
have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
“Bring them here to Me,” He said. And He
directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the
two fish and looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then He
gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all
ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken
pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand
men, besides women and children. Matthew 14:14-21 NIV®
Jesus
left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then He went up on a mountainside
and sat down. Great crowds came to Him, bringing the lame, the blind, the
crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at His feet; and He healed
them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made
well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of
Israel.
Jesus
called His disciples to Him and said, “I
have compassion for these people, they have already been with me three days and
have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may
collapse on the way.”
His
disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread at this remote place to
feed such a crowd?”
“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.
“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.
“Seven,”
they replied, “and a few small fish.”
He
told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then He took the seven loaves and the
fish, and when He had given thanks, He broke them and gave them to the
disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied.
Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were
left over. The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and
children. Matthew 15:29-38 NIV®
When
they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the
Pharisees and Sadducees.”
They
discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any
bread.”
Aware
of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of
little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? Do
you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five
thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the
four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? Matthew 16:5-10 NIV®
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Memory
Verse: Then Jesus declared, “I am the
bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in
Me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35 NIV®
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Discussion
Example:
Say,
“You may have heard about Jesus feeding the 5,000 people with a few bread and
fish, but I bet most of you didn’t know that He did this two different times.
The point of the end of this passage is two-fold.
“In
the verse, ‘Be careful,’ Jesus said
to them. ‘Be on your guard against the
yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees’, the disciples thought Jesus was
talking about them not having enough bread on the boat for them to eat. Really
Jesus was warning them to not get caught up in the evil thinking of the
Pharisees and the Sadducees. Jesus didn’t want it to rub off on the Disciples,
like yeast grows and gets bigger and bigger when it makes the bread rise.
“Additionally,
Jesus was surprised his disciples were worried about not having enough bread to
eat on the boat. He thought they should have had faith instead of worrying
about having enough bread when they had just been with Him, when He fed all
these people two different times. Of course, if Jesus made sure the thousands
were fed, He would surely take care of His disciples.
“These
passages show us that Jesus can do miracles that normal people can’t, as a
proof that He is truly our Lord and Savior. Also, if we trust Jesus to be there
with us when bad things happen or when we are worried, we need to trust that He'll be there with us through those events or feelings. Of course, that doesn’t always
mean that Jesus will do everything exactly the way we ask Him. At the end of
our prayers, we have to remember to ask if it’s His will.
“What
are some things that you worry about?” Examples might be things like: being
worried about not doing well in school, a sick relative, afraid in the dark,
etc. Let everyone share their worries and at the end of the discussion, remind
them that if they pray to Jesus, He is always there with them through these things.”
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Arts
and Crafts Example:
They
are going to make a Christ Acrostic Art Project, but could instead use Jesus,
Savior, Lord, etc. They need paper, crayons and/or markers. They will write
Christ down the side of the paper and describe Him to the right of each letter
and illustrate it if they have time. (It may be nice to have extra volunteers to
help generate and/or spell words, depending on the needs and age of the
children.)
C-Children
(Christ loves children)
H-Helped
the poor
R-Rejoice,
He rose from the Grave!
I-
Is Son of God
S-Saved
us from our sins
T-Talk
to Christ when you’re afraid
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Science
Example:
You
will need a clear plastic cup half full of water for each student or group and
a pencil or crayon for the experiment. Ask the students, “How do you think the
pencil or crayon will look when it is put into the half glass of water?" Listen
to all their Hypotheses.
Ask
them to stand to and look at the cup from all angles. When the experiment is
finished, ask them to share what they saw. Then explain, “It looks like the
pencil or crayon is broken when it really isn’t. It’s call refraction when the
light rays pass from one substance to another. You saw the top part of the
pencil, but the light from the pencil or crayon below the water bends when it
hits the water’s surface.
“This
is to remind us that the disciples thought Jesus was talking about not having
enough bread, when He was really talking about not getting caught up with those
with evil thoughts and actions that might rub off on them. Sometimes we think things are
one way, when they really are another. We need to stay focused on Jesus, who
will lead us even when we are confused throughout our lives!”
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Game
Example:
Cut
one new rectangular sponge in the shape of a fish. Cut another new sponge in
the shape of an elongated oval loaf of bread. You will need four buckets or
dishpans, two of them filled with water.(It would be less messy if you play this outside, but if inside, have plenty of towels to clean up dribbles.) Count off:
one, two, one, two and so on and have all the ones in one line behind one
container of water and all the twos in the other line behind the other
container of water. Directly in front of group, some distance away, will be
placed the empty container for each group. One group will have the loaf sponge
and the other will have the fish sponge.
Explain
that they will be pretending that they are sharing the loaves and fishes like
the disciples did after Jesus blessed them. When you tell them go, the first
person in line is to dip their sponge in the water, run or walk fast to the
container in front of them and squeeze it into the container a distance in
front of them. Then, they run or walk fast to bring back the empty sponge and
hand it to the next person in their group, and then, go to the end of their
line. This continues until all the water is transferred from one container to
the other. (If you do this game with several different groups, instead of
moving the full water containers back, just start the next groups behind the
new location of containers full of water.)
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