Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 352
340
IMMERSE
•
MESSIAH
15:28–16:9
“Dear woman,” Jesus said to her, “your faith is great. Your request is
granted.” And her daughter was instantly healed.
Jesus returned to the Sea of Galilee and climbed a hill and sat down.
A vast crowd brought to him people who were lame, blind, crippled,
those who couldn’t speak, and many others. They laid them before Jesus,
and he healed them all. The crowd was amazed! Those who hadn’t been
able to speak were talking, the crippled were made well, the lame were
walking, and the blind could see again! And they praised the God of
Israel.
Then Jesus called his disciples and told them, “I feel sorry for these
people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, or they will faint
along the way.”
The disciples replied, “Where would we get enough food here in the
wilderness for such a huge crowd?”
Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?”
They replied, “Seven loaves, and a few small fish.”
So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took
the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, and broke them into
pieces. He gave them to the disciples, who distributed the food to the
crowd.
They all ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked
up seven large baskets of leftover food. There were 4,000 men who were
fed that day, in addition to all the women and children. Then Jesus sent
the people home, and he got into a boat and crossed over to the region of
Magadan.
One day the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus, demanding that
he show them a miraculous sign from heaven to prove his authority.
He replied, “You know the saying, ‘Red sky at night means fair weather
tomorrow; red sky in the morning means foul weather all day.’ You know
how to interpret the weather signs in the sky, but you don’t know how to
interpret the signs of the times! Only an evil, adulterous generation would
demand a miraculous sign, but the only sign I will give them is the sign of
the prophet Jonah.” Then Jesus left them and went away.
Later, after they crossed to the other side of the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any bread. “Watch out!” Jesus warned
them. “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought
any bread. Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “You have so little
faith! Why are you arguing with each other about having no bread? Don’t
