10. Nurturing

6:1-5

through cornfields- eating on Sabbath ate the ears

9:10-17

(on way to ) Bethsaida - feeds 5,000 they ate and were satisfied all

6:1-5 It happened that on a Sabbath day he was going through some cornfields. As they went his disciples plucked some corn and ate the ears, rubbing them with their hands. Some of the Pharisees said "Why do you do something which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?" Replying to them Jesus said "Did you not read about how David, when he was hungry, he and those with him, went into the house of God where the (sacred) loaves were set out. Then taking these he ate some and also gave them to those who were with them. Yet it is not lawful for anyone except the priests to eat this (bread). He said to them "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

9:10-17 (After their mission) Jesus took the disciples privately to a city called Bethsaida. But the crowds knew about this and followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God and he cured those who needed healing. The day began to decline. The twelve approached and said to him. "Send the crowd away so that they can go to the villages and farms around to stay there and hopefully find provisions. We are in a desert place here." He said to them "You give them something to eat." But they said "We have no more with us than five loaves and two fish. (We can't feed them) unless we go and buy food for all these people." In fact there were about five thousand men He said to his disciples. "Make them sit in groups of about fifty. They did so and then everyone was sitting down. Then taking the five loaves and two fish and looking up to heaven he blessed them and broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They ate and all were satisfied. Later on they (the disciples) took up the excess and filled twelve baskets with the fragments.

It would seem that there must have been some sort of retreat at Bethsaida. Peter Phillip and Andrew came from there. In Mark a reference to Bethsaida is paired off with a paragraph about Jesus being alone with his disciples. Also in Mark the story of the five loaves and two fish occur on the way to a 'desert place', which in Luke is named as Bethsaida.

In Mark this multiplication of the loaves is paired off with a reprimand by the Pharisees about the disciples eating with unwashed hands. In Luke this is paired off with a reprimand by the Pharisees about 'doing work' on the Sabbath. Luke also pairs off the multiplication of loaves with a reference to David eating the sacred bread.

At the present time some people claim that this multiplication did not really take place but the miracle was in fact the readiness with which people were prepared to search into their pockets for food and share this. But is this as likely as it sounds? If you are out on the street do you have a loaf of bread in your pocket? Recall that people left in a hurry to follow Jesus and the disciples. As Jesus himself pointed out to the disciples when they were in a boat and had forgotten the loaf of bread on another occasion that he had done this sort of miracle twice before, why should they doubt his ability to do it again.