This is It - Episode 10: Feeding the Hungry

Word came to Yeshua of John’s murder in prison. He was shaken, and needed to get away by himself to fully experience the sorrow of this loss. 

He headed out in the boat to a deserted shore. The throngs eventually caught up to where he was. Though he wanted to be alone, he felt compassion for their need, and cured those who were ill.

When it was getting late, the students came and said, This place is in the middle of nowhere, and it’s late. Send the crowds away, so they can find food for themselves in the villages.

But Yeshua said, Don’t send them away. Feed them yourselves.

They answered, But we only have five loaves of bread and two fish.

Here, bring them to me. 

They asked everyone to sit. Yeshua took the food and blessed it. He divided it among his students and they passed it around, either breaking off bits for each person or passing some down a line of people.

Yeshua watched the crowd and saw that they understood what he had been teaching.

The more food was eaten, the more food appeared. All ate, and all were satisfied.

At the end of the meal, twelve baskets of scraps were leftover.

© 2020 by Elisabeth T. Eliassen and songsofasouljourney.blogspot.com

A brief note about my literary exploration of the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth: I have undertaken this exercise having read, sung (in several languages), meditated and prayed on the contents of the Synoptic Gospels (as well as the Non-Synoptic Gospels) for at least 45 years. In that time, I’ve accumulated a bit of a library (which comes as no surprise to those who know me), and I try to follow modern scholarship. Here is a partial list of the authors and books that come to mind as I write these episodes:

Ballentine, Debra Scoggins, The Conflict Myth & the Biblical Tradition; Oxford University Press 2015

Erdman, Bart, various titles

Gaus, Andy, The Unvarnished New Testament; Phanes Press, 1991

Herzog, William R., Parables as Subversive Speech; Westminster John Knox Press, 1991

Louden, Bruce, Greek Myth and the Bible; Routledge, 2019

Tatian, Diatesseron; www.earlychristianwritings.com/diatessaron.html

Wajdenbaum, Philippe, Argonauts of the Desert, Routledge, 2011

Ward, Keith, The Philosopher and the Gospels, Lion Hudson, 2011

Yosef ben Maityahu (Titus Flavius Josephus), various writings