because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.
Jesus went up on the mountain,
and there he sat down with his disciples.
The Jewish feast of Passover was near.
When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him,
he said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?"
He said this to test him,
because he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip answered him,
"Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough
for each of them to have a little."
One of his disciples,
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him,
"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;
but what good are these for so many?"
Jesus said, "Have the people recline."
Now there was a great deal of grass in that place.
So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.
Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks,
and distributed them to those who were reclining,
and also as much of the fish as they wanted.
When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples,
"Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted."
So they collected them,
and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments
from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.
When the people saw the sign he had done, they said,
"This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world."
Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off
to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.
REFLECTION
"This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world."
If we were there watching Jesus heal the sick and then witness the multiplication of the 2 fish and 5 barley loaves, we would be shouting from the top of the mountain, posting on facebook, instagram, writing and calling our friends.
Would we be so easily entertained that we would forget in a few days what was just witnessed? We have all seen magic shows and know there are whistles, bells and lights for distractions. The magic trick is an illusion and not true. After a few hours we have a shallow interest in what they did on stage.
Jesus gave us signs. But there were many prophets in the past: Elisha fed 100 followers with 20 loaves ( 2 Kings 4:42-44) insisting, "For thus says the Lord, 'They shall eat and there shall be some left over'" Moses also obtained through God the manna for his people. How were the people to know Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God? By what He said and what they witnessed.
In the very near future, Jesus would die on a Cross, die a most humiliating, tortuous, wretched death, giving up all His blood for each and every one of us. All for love and not wanting us to go for eternity to hell. The miracle of the Resurrection, defeating death, defeating the devil should have been enough for people to shout the good news, the miracle of all miracles!
Through His death He gathered the people together and united them. Because of His Resurrection we believe He is the Truth.
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