1 Jesus kept on teaching the people in that country. A big mob of people stayed there and listened to him for 3 days. And in that time, they finished up all their food. 2 Jesus called to his followers to come to him, and he said, “I feel really sorry for this mob. They are hungry, and they haven’t got anything to eat. 3 I can’t send them home like this. Some of them have walked a long way to get here, and if they start walking home now, they will get weak and fall down. We have to give them some food.”

4 His followers said, “But they are a really big mob of people. We can’t get enough food out here in the bush to feed them all.”

5 Jesus said, “How much bread have you got?”

The men said, “7 loaves of bread.”

6 Then Jesus told the people to sit down on the ground. Then he picked up the 7 loaves of bread and said, “Thank you God for this bread.” Then Jesus broke it into bits and gave it to his followers, and they gave it out to all the people.

7 Somebody had some little fish there, and they gave them to Jesus, and he said, “Thank you God for these fish.” Then Jesus also gave the fish to his followers, to give out to the people.

8 They all ate and ate until they were full, and there was a lot of food that they didn’t eat. Then they picked up all those left-over bits of food, and they filled up 7 baskets with it. 9 There were 4,000 men in that big mob. After they finished eating that food, Jesus told them to go home.

10 Straight away, Jesus and his followers got into a boat and went across the lake to a place called Dalmanutha.

11 There were some of the Pharisee mob at that place. They were strong for the Jewish law. They heard people say that Jesus was there, so they came to talk to him. They wanted to trick him, so they started to argue with him. They said, “Hey, show us that God sent you here. Do something powerful so we can see that you have special power from God.”[a]

12 Jesus was a little bit upset. He breathed deeply and said, “You mob that are alive today always want to see something powerful, and if I don’t do something powerful, you will not believe that I came from God. Listen, I will not do anything powerful for you mob here now.”[b] 13 Then Jesus and his followers walked away from that Pharisee mob, and they got into a boat and went across to the other side of the lake.

14 But, before they got into the boat to go across the lake, Jesus’s followers forgot to buy more food. So they only had one loaf of bread with them.

15 Jesus talked straight to his followers. He said, “You know how we make damper. We put some baking powder into the flour to make it swell up. Well, I’m telling you this, stay away from the baking powder that comes from the Pharisee mob, that are strong for our law, and stay away from the baking powder that comes from Herod, the big boss.”[c]

16 Jesus’s followers didn’t understand what Jesus meant, and they started to argue with each other. They said, “We didn’t get enough food for the trip. That is what he is talking about.”

17 Jesus knew what they said to each other, and he said, “Why are you mob arguing about food? You still haven’t learned about me. You don’t understand me. Maybe your minds are closed. 18-19 You’ve got eyes, but you don’t look. You’ve got ears, but you don’t listen. Do you remember the time we had 5 loaves of bread, and I gave food to 5,000 men? How many baskets of left-over bits did you pick up?”[d]

They said, “12 baskets full.”

20 Then Jesus said, “Do you remember the time we had 7 loaves of bread, and I gave food to 4,000 men? How many baskets of left-over bits did you pick up?”

They said, “7 baskets full.”

21 Then Jesus asked them, “So how come you still don’t understand about me?”

22 Jesus and his followers got to a place called Bethsayida, on the west side of Lake Galilee, and they got out of the boat. Some people brought a blind man to him, and they asked Jesus to touch him and make him better. 23 Jesus held the man’s hand and took him outside the town. Then Jesus spat on the man’s eyes, and then put his hands on him and said, “Can you see anything now?”

24 The man looked around and said, “Yes, I can see a little bit. I can see people, but they look like trees walking around.” 25 So Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes again. Then the man carefully looked around again, and his eyes were properly better, and he saw everything clearly.

26 Jesus told the man to go straight home. He said, “As you walk home, don’t go into that town. Don’t let anyone see that I made you better.”

27 Then Jesus and his followers left Galilee country, and they went north to some towns in the country called Caesarea-Philippi. As they walked along the track, Jesus asked his followers, “When people talk about me, who do they reckon I really am?”

28 They said, “They reckon you are one of God’s men that died, but then God made you come alive again. Some people reckon you are John the Baptiser. Other people reckon you are Elijah, that man that lived a long time ago. And other people reckon you are one of those other men that told God’s messages a long time ago.”[e]

29 Then Jesus asked them, “Who do you reckon I really am?”

Peter said straight out, “You are the Christ, the special man that God promised to send to save us.”[f]

30 Jesus told them strongly, “Don’t say that to anyone else. Don’t tell anyone about me.”

31 Then Jesus told his followers about the bad things that were going to happen to him. He said, “I am God’s special man from heaven, but our Jewish elders, and our ceremony bosses, and our law teachers, they will all reckon I’m no good. They will hurt me badly in lots of ways, and they will kill me. I will be dead for 2 nights, then on the 3rd day I will come alive again.”

32 Jesus talked straight to them, but Peter couldn’t believe it. He took Jesus away from the others and told him not to talk like that. 33 Jesus turned around and looked at his other followers there, then he said strongly to Peter, “Go away from me. You are like Satan, the boss over the bad spirits. You are not thinking God’s way. You are just thinking like a man.”

34 Then Jesus called out to all the people that were there. He called them to come up close, with his followers, and he said to them all, “If any of you wants to follow me properly, you have to stop thinking only about yourself. You have to live like me. You have to be ready to die, yes, die like a criminal on a cross, just like I will die.[g] 35 If you only want to look after your own life here on earth, you will lose it. You will not live for ever with me. But if you are ready to give up your life here, and live my way, and tell other people the good news about me, then you will find real life, and you will live with me for ever.[h] 36 You see, you might get lots of money and things for yourself, and you might even get everything in the world. But if you miss out on real life, and you don’t live for ever with me, all that stuff is useless to you. 37 You can’t use it to get that real life.

38 You know that some people are really bad, and they don’t take any notice of God. If you are frightened of them, so that you don’t tell them about me, and you don’t say that you belong to me, then later, I will not say that you belong to me. I’m God’s special man from heaven, and one day my father, God, will make me really great, and I will come back here to the earth, with all God’s angel messengers. But if you don’t tell people now that you belong to me, then when I come back here, I will not say that you belong to me.”

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