War Club Tells the Good Story 8

FOUR THOUSAND HUNGRY PEOPLE

1On another one of those days a great crowd had gathered, and, like the time before, they were hungry with nothing to eat.

Creator Sets Free (Jesus) called his followers to his side and said to them, 2“I am concerned for all these people, for they have been with us for three days with no food. 3Some of them have come from a great distance, and if I send them away hungry, they might lose their strength and faint.”

4“This is a desolate and out-of-the-way place,” they answered him. “Where could we find enough food to feed all these people?”

5“How much frybread do we have?” he asked.

“We have seven pieces of frybread,” they answered.

6Creator Sets Free (Jesus) instructed all the people to sit down on the ground. He then took the seven pieces of frybread, gave thanks, and broke them into smaller pieces. He gave them to his followers, and they gave them out to the people.

7They also had a few small fish, so he prayed a blessing over them and told them to give them out as well.

8Everyone ate as much as they wanted, and when they were done eating, his followers gathered up the leftovers—seven baskets full! 9They had fed about four thousand men and also women and children. He then sent the crowd on their way.

10Right away he climbed into the canoe with his twelve followers and went to the territory of Slow Burning Coals (Dalmanutha).

NO SIGN WILL BE GIVEN

11While they were there, the Separated Ones (Pharisees) came to argue with him. They asked from him a sign from the spirit-world above to prove who he was.

12“Why do the people of this generation need a sign?” he asked as he breathed out a sigh from his spirit. “I tell you from my heart, this generation will not be given a sign—not today!”

13He then climbed back into his canoe and launched out toward the other side of the lake.

THE YEAST OF THE SEPARATED ONES

14They had only one piece of frybread with them because his followers had forgotten to bring more.

15“Be on the lookout for the yeast of the Separated Ones (Pharisees),” he told them firmly, “and also of the Friends of Looks Brave (Herodians).”

16His followers tried to figure out why he said this. They said to each other, “Is it because we forgot to bring more frybread?”

17Creator Sets Free (Jesus) could hear what they were saying.

“Why are you thinking like this?” he said. “Why are you worried that you forgot to bring frybread? How is it that you do not understand? Are your hearts still hard? 18Have you no eyes to see with and no ears to hear with?”

His words were sharp, and frustration showed on his face as he tried to make things clear.

“Have you forgotten so soon?” he asked. 19“When I broke the five pieces of frybread to feed five thousand, how many baskets of broken pieces were left over?”

“Twelve,” they answered.

20“When I broke the seven pieces of frybread to feed four thousand, how many baskets of broken pieces did you gather?”

“Seven,” they said.

21“So, do you still not understand?” he said.

HE HEALS A MAN BORN BLIND

22They walked on to the village of House of Fishing (Bethsaida). The people there brought a blind man to Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and begged him to touch him. 23He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. He rubbed some of his spit into the man’s eyes and then laid his hands on him.

“What do you see?” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) asked the man.

24He looked around and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees walking around.”

25Creator Sets Free (Jesus) put his hands over the man’s eyes again. His sight returned, and he could see everything clearly.

26He then sent the man to his home and said to him, “Do not go back into the village.”

YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE

27They journeyed on and came into the villages of the territory of Ruler of the Horsemen (Caesarea Philippi).

“What are the people saying about me?” Creator Sets Free (Jesus) asked his followers as they walked along the road. “Who do they think I am?”

28“Some say you are Gift of Goodwill (John) who performed the purification ceremony,”#8:28 Baptism they answered. “Others say you are Great Spirit Is Creator (Elijah) or one of the other prophets.”

29“But who do you say I am?” he asked.

“You are the Chosen One!” Stands on the Rock (Peter) answered.

30Creator Sets Free (Jesus) then sternly warned them not to tell this to anyone.

THE ROAD OF SUFFERING LIES AHEAD

31Creator Sets Free (Jesus) then began to instruct his followers that the True Human Being must suffer many things. The council of elders, the head holy men, and the scroll keepers would turn their faces from him. He would then be killed, and after three days he would return from the world of the dead. He said this openly to all his followers.

32Stands on the Rock (Peter) pulled him aside from the others and spoke sharply to him.

33Creator Sets Free (Jesus) turned and looked to his followers and then spoke sharply to Stands on the Rock (Peter), “Out of my way, Accuser (Satan)! These are not the thoughts of the Great Spirit, but of a weak human being.”

CARRYING THE CROSS

34He then gathered his followers and the crowd around him and said, “Any who want to walk the road with me must turn away from their own path and carry their own cross as they follow me to the place of ultimate sacrifice.

35“The ones who hold on to their lives will not find life, but the ones who are willing to let go of their lives, for me and for the good story I bring, will find the true life. 36How will it help you to get everything you want in this world but lose the true life? 37Is there anything in this world worth trading for it?

38“There are bad-hearted and unfaithful people living today, in this generation, who are ashamed of me and my message. So, when the True Human Being comes to show the power and shining-greatness of his Father along with his holy spirit-messengers, he will also be ashamed of these people.”

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