Jesus Feeds Four Thousand
One day another large crowd gathered around Jesus. They had not brought along anything to eat. So Jesus called his disciples together and said, "I feel sorry for these people. They have been with me for three days, and they don't have anything to eat. Some of them live a long way from here. If I send them away hungry, they might faint on their way home."
The disciples said, "This place is like a desert. Where can we find enough food to feed such a crowd?" Jesus asked them how much food they had. They replied, "Seven small loaves of bread." After Jesus told the crowd to sit down, he took the seven loaves and blessed them. He then broke the loaves and handed them to his disciples, who passed them out to the crowd. They also had a few little fish, and after Jesus had blessed these, he told the disciples to pass them around.
The crowd of about four thousand people ate all they wanted, and the leftovers filled seven large baskets. As soon as Jesus had sent the people away, he got into the boat with the disciples and crossed to the territory near Dalmanutha.
A Sign from Heaven
The Pharisees came out and started an argument with Jesus. They wanted to test him by asking for a sign from heaven. Jesus groaned and said, "Why are you always looking for a sign? I can promise you that you will not be given one!" Then he left them. He again got into a boat and crossed over to the other side of the lake.
The Yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod
The disciples had forgotten to bring any bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. Jesus warned them, "Watch out! Guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod."
The disciples talked this over and said to each other, "He must be saying this because we don't have any bread." Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you talking about not having any bread? Don't you understand? Are your minds still closed? Are your eyes blind and your ears deaf? Don't you remember how many baskets of leftovers you picked up when I fed those five thousand people with only five small loaves of bread?" "Yes," the disciples answered. "There were twelve baskets."
Jesus then asked, "And how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up when I broke seven small loaves of bread for those four thousand people?" "Seven," they answered. "Don't you know what I am talking about by now?" Jesus asked.