Luke 9:1-17

Jesus summoned together his twelve apostles and imparted to them authority over every demon and the power to heal every disease. Then he commissioned them to proclaim God’s kingdom and to heal the sick to demonstrate that the kingdom had arrived. As he sent them out, he gave them these instructions: “Take nothing extra on your journey. Just go as you are. Don’t carry a staff, a backpack, food, money, not even a change of clothes. Whatever home welcomes you as a guest, remain there and make it your base of ministry. And wherever your ministry is rejected, you are to leave that town and shake the dust off your shoes as a testimony before them.” The apostles departed and went into the villages with the wonderful news of God’s kingdom, and they healed diseases wherever they went. Now, Herod, the governor, was confused and perplexed when he heard reports of all the miracles of Jesus and his apostles. Many were saying, “John the Baptizer has come back to life!” Others said, “This has to be Elijah who has reappeared or one of the prophets of old who has risen from the dead.” These were the rumors circulating throughout the land. Herod exclaimed, “Who is this Man? I keep hearing about him over and over. It can’t be the prophet John; I had him beheaded!” So, Herod was very eager to meet Jesus. Months later, the apostles returned from their ministry tour and told Jesus all the wonders and miracles they had witnessed. Jesus, wanting to be alone with the Twelve, quietly slipped away with them toward Bethsaida. Crowds soon found out about it and took off after him. When they caught up with Jesus, he graciously welcomed them all, taught them more about God’s kingdom, and healed all who were sick. As the day wore on, the Twelve came to Jesus and told him, “It’s getting late. You should send the crowds to the surrounding villages and farms to get something to eat and find shelter for the night. There’s nothing to eat here in the middle of nowhere.” Jesus responded, “You have the food to feed them.” They replied, “All we have are these five small loaves of bread and two dried fish. Do you really expect us to go buy food for all these people? There are nearly five thousand men here, with women and children besides!” He told his disciples, “Have them all sit down in groups of fifty each.” After everyone was seated, Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, and gazing into the heavenly realm he gave thanks for the food. Then, in the presence of his disciples, he broke off pieces of bread and fish, and kept giving more to each disciple to give to the crowd. It was multiplying before their eyes! So everyone ate until they were filled, and afterward the disciples gathered up the leftovers—it came to exactly twelve baskets full!