"The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pullman Philip)

Feeding the Crowd

Knowing how highly Jesus had regarded John, some of those followers of the Baptist came to Galilee and told him what had happened; and Jesus, wanting to be alone, went out in a boat by himself. No one knew where he had gone, but Christ let one or two people know, and soon the word got around. When Jesus came ashore in what he thought would be a lonely place, he found a great crowd waiting for him.

He felt sorry for them, and began to speak, and some people who were sick felt themselves uplifted by his presence, and declared themselves cured.

It was nearly evening, and Jesus’s disciples said to him, ‘This is the middle of nowhere, and all these people need to eat. Tell them to go away now, and find a village where they can buy food. They can’t stay here all night.’

Jesus said, ‘They don’t need to go away. As for food, what have you got between you?’

‘Five loaves and two fishes, master; nothing else.’

‘Give them to me,’ said Jesus.

He took the loaves and the fishes, and blessed them, and then said to the crowd, ‘See how I share this food out? You do the same. There’ll be enough for everyone.’

And sure enough, it turned out that one man had brought some barley cakes, and another had a couple of apples, and a third had some dried fish, and a fourth had a pocketful of raisins, and so on; and between them all, there was plenty to go round. No one was left hungry.

And Christ, watching it all and taking notes, recorded this as another miracle.