Contents ▼▲
Front Matter The Story of a Beautiful Garden The First Baby in the World and His Brother The Great Ship That Saved Eight People The Tower That Was Never Finished The Story of a Long Journey How Abram's Choice Brought Blessing The Angel by the Well The Rain of Fire That Fell on a City The Boy Who Became an Archer How an Angel's Voice Saved a Boy's Life The Story of a Journey after a Wife How Jacob Stole His Brother's Blessing Jacob's Wonderful Dream A Midnight Wrestling Match The Rich Man's Son Who Was Sold as a Slave From the Prison to the Palace How Joseph's Dream Came True A Lost Brother Found From the Land of Famine to the Land of Plenty The Beautiful Baby Who Was Found in a River The Voice from the Burning Bush The River That Ran Blood The Night When a Nation Was Born How the Sea Became Dry Land and the Sky Rained Bre The Mountain That Smoked and Words That Were Spoke How Aaron Made a Golden Calf and What Became of It The Tent Where God Lived Among His People How They Worshipped God in the Tabernacle What Strong Drink Brought to Aaron's Sons The Scapegoat in the Wilderness The Cluster of Grapes from the Land of Canaan How the Long Journey of the Israelites Came to an What a Wise Man Learned from an Ass How Moses Looked upon the Promised Land The Story of Job The Story of a Scarlet Cord How the River Jordan Became Dry The Story of a Wedge of Gold How Joshua Conquered the Land of Canaan The Old Man Who Fought Against the Giants The Avenger of Blook and the Cities of Refuge The Story of an Altar Beside the River The Presnt That Ehud Brought to King Eglon How a Woman Won a Great Victory Gideon and His Brave Three Hundred Jephthah's Rash Promise and What Came from It The Strong Man: How He Lived and How He Died The Idol Temple at Dan and Its Priest How Ruth Gleaned in the Field of Boaz The Little Boy with a Linen Coat How the Idol Fell Down Before the Ark The Last of the Judges The Tall Man Who Was Chosen King How Saul Saved the Eyes of the Men of Jabesh The Brave Young Prince Saul's Great Sin and His Great Loss The Shepherd Boy of Bethlehem The Shepherd Boy's Fight with the Giant The Little Boy Looking for the Arrows Where David Found the Giant's Sword How David Spared Saul's Life The Last Days of King Saul The Shepherd Boy Becomes a King The Sound in the Treetops The Cripple at the King's Table The Prophet's Story of the Little Lamb David's Handsome Son and How He Stole the Kingdom Absalom in the Wood; David on the Throne The Angel with the Drawn Sword on Mount Moriah Solomon on This Father's Throne The Wise Young King The House of God on Mount Moriah The Last Days of Solomon's Reign The Breaking Up of a Great Kingdom The King Who Led Israel to Sin The Prophet Who Raised a Boy to Life The Prayer That Was Answered in Fire The Voice That Spoke to Elijah in the Mount The Wounded Prophet and His Story What Ahab Paid for His Vineyard The Arrow That Killed a King Elijah's Chariot of Fire A Spring Sweetened by Salt The Pot of Oil and the Pot of Poison The Little Boy at Shunem How a Little Girl Helped to Cure a Leper The Chariots of Fire around Elisha What the Lepers Found in the Camp Jehu, the Furious Driver of His Chariot Elisha and the Bow; Jonah and Nineveh How the Ten Tribes Were Lost The First Four Kings of Judah The Little Boy Who Was Crowned King Three Kings and a Great Prophet The Good King Hezekiah The Lost Book Found in the Temple The Last Four Kings of Judah and the Weeping Proph What Ezekiel Saw in the Valley The Jewish Captives in the Court of the King The Golden Image and the Fiery Furnace The Tree That Was Cut Down and Grew Again The Writing upon the Wall Daniel in the Den of Lions The Story of a Joyous Journey The New Temple on Mount Moriah The Beautiful Queen of Persia The Scribe Who Wrote the Old Testament The Nobleman Who Built the Wall of Jerusalem Ezra's Great Bible Class in Jerusalem The Angel by the Altar The Manger of Bethlehem The Star and the Wise Men The Boy in his Father's House The Prophet in the Wilderness Jesus in the Desert, and beside the River The Water Jars at the Wedding Feast The Stranger at the Well The Story of a Boy in Capernaum and a Riot A Net Full of Fishes The Leper and the Man Let Down through the Roof The Cripple at the Pool and the Withered Hand The Twelve Disciples and the Sermon on the Mount The Captain's Servant, the Widow's Son, and a Sinn Some Stories Jesus Told by the Sea "Peace, Be Still" The Little Girl Who Was Raised to Life A Dancing Girl and What Was Given Her The Feast beside the Sea and What Followed It The Answer to a Mother's Prayer The Glory of Jesus on the Mountain The Little Child in the Arms of Jesus At the Feast of Tabernacles The Man with Clay on His Face The Good Shepherd and the Good Samaritan Lazarus Raised to Life Some Parables in Perea The Poor Rich Man and the Rich Poor Man Jesus at Jericho Palm Sunday The Last Vistis of Jesus to the Temple The Parables on the Mount of Olives The Last Supper The Olive Orchard and the High Priests Hall The Crown of Thorns The Darkest Day of All the World The Brightest Day of All the World The Stranger on the Shore The Church of the First Days The Man at the Beautiful Gate The Right Way to Give, and the Wrong Way Stephen with the Shining Face The Man Reading in the Chariot The Voice That Spoke to Saul What Peter Saw by the Sea How the Iron Gate Was Opened The Earliest Missionaries The Song in the Prison Paul's Speech on the Hill Paul at Corinth Paul at Ephesus Paul's Last Journey to Jerusalem The Speech on the Stairs Two Years in Prison The Story That Paul Told to the King Paul in the Storm How Paul Came to Rome and How He Lived There The Throne of God The City of God

Story of the Bible Told for Young and Old - Jesse Hurlbut




The Feast Beside the Sea, and What Followed It


When the twelve disciples came back to Jesus, after preaching in his name among the villages of Galilee, they told him of all that they had done, and of what they had said to the people. The multitudes seeking after Jesus were now greater than ever before, for it was again near the time of the Passover, and very many on their way to Jerusalem turned aside to see and to hear the great Teacher. So many people were coming and going that they could scarcely find time even to eat. Jesus said to the twelve:

"Come with me apart into a quiet place, away from the crowds, and let us rest for a time."

They went into the boat and rowed across the lake to an open place, where no one lived, not far from the city of Bethsaida. But they could not be alone, for the people saw them going, and watched them from the shore, and went on foot around the northern end of the lake, and found them. When Jesus saw how eager the crowds were to hear him, he took pity on them and taught them, and healed such among them as were sick.

As it began to grow toward evening, the disciples said to Jesus, "This is a lonely place, and there is nothing here for such a crowd of people to eat. Send them away before it is too late, and tell them to go to the towns and get food."

But Jesus said to them, "They need not go away. You can give them food to eat."

They said to him, "Shall we go into the town and buy two hundred shillings' worth of bread, so that each one of them may have a little?"

Jesus turned to Philip, one of his disciples, and said to him, "Philip, where shall we find bread, that all these may eat?"

Jesus said this to try Philip's faith, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip looked at the great crowd, full five thousand men, besides women and children, and he said, "Two hundred shillings' worth of bread would not be enough to give to every one even a little piece."

Just then another of the disciples, Andrew, the brother of Peter, said to Jesus, "There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two little fishes; but what use would they be among so many people?"

Jesus said to the disciples, "Go out among the people, and divide them into companies of fifty and a hundred, and tell them to sit down in order."

So the people all sat down; and upon the green grass, arranged in rows and squares in their garments of different colors, they looked like beds of flowers.

Then Jesus took into his hands the five loaves and the two fishes which the boy had brought. He looked up to heaven, and blessed the food; and broke the loaves and the dried fishes, and gave the pieces to the disciples. They went among the companies of people, and gave to everyone bread and fish, as much as each needed. So they all ate, and had enough.

Jesus blesses the food

JESUS BLESSES THE FOOD


Then Jesus said, "Gather up the pieces of food that are left, so that nothing may be lost."

Each of the disciples carried a basket among the people, and when they came to Jesus all the twelve baskets were filled with pieces that were left over of the five loaves and the two fishes.

When the people saw that here was one who could give them food, they were ready at once to make Jesus their king, and to break away from the rule of the Romans. Jesus was a King, but he would not be such as king as they wished. His kingdom was to be in the hearts of men who loved him, not a kingdom set up by the swords of soldiers. He found that his disciples were ready to help the people to make him a king, even against his own will.

So Jesus first compelled his disciples to go on board the boat, though they were not willing to do so, and to row across the lake to Capernaum. Then he sent away the great crowd of people who were still eager that he should be their king. And when all had gone away, and he was left alone, he went up into the mountain to pray. While he was praying in the night a great storm arose upon the lake, and from the mountain Jesus could see his disciples working hard with their oars against the waves, although they could not see him. A little after midnight, when the storm was the highest, Jesus went to his disciples, walking upon the water, just as though the sea was dry land. The men in the boat saw a strange figure coming near them upon the sea, and cried out with fear, for they thought that it must be a spirit. But Jesus called out to them, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid!" And then they knew that it was their Lord.


"BE OF GOOD CHEER, IT IS I"


Peter spoke to Jesus, and said, "Lord, if it be thou, let me come to thee, walking upon the water." And Jesus said to Peter, "Come."

Then Simon Peter leaped overboard from the ship, and he, too, walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw how great was the storm on the sea, he began to be afraid, and forgetting to trust in the word of Jesus, he began to sink. He cried out, "Lord, save me!"

And Jesus reached out his hand, and caught hold of him, and lifted him up, saying, "O man of little faith, why did you doubt my word?"

When Jesus came on board the boat with Peter, at once the wind ceased and the sea was calm. The disciples wondered greatly as they saw the power of Jesus. They fell down before him, and said, "In truth thou art the Son of God!" When they came to the shore, and the daylight arose, they saw that they were at the land of Gennesaret, a plain a little to the south of Capernaum. They went ashore; and as soon as the people saw Jesus, and knew who he was, they brought their sick to him, and begged that they might only touch the border of his garment; and as many as touched him were made well.

Soon after this Jesus came again to Capernaum, and went into the synagogue, which was full of people, some of whom had eaten of the five loaves a few days before. These people wished Jesus to feed them in the same way again, but Jesus said to them, "Seek not for food that passes away, but for the food that gives everlasting life, such as the Son of man can give you."

They said to him, "What sign can you show that God has sent you? Moses gave our fathers bread from heaven, the manna in the desert. What can you do?"

You have read of the manna which fed the Israelites in the wilderness in Story Twenty-four in Part Second. Then Jesus said to them, "It was not Moses, but God, who gave your fathers bread; and God gives you now the true bread from heaven, in his Son who came down from heaven, to give life to the world."

As soon as the people found that Jesus would not work wonders to please them, they turned away from him and left him, although only a few days before they would have made him a king. When Jesus saw that the great crowds of people were with him no longer, Jesus said to his twelve disciples, "Will you also go away and leave me?"

Then Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom else can we go? for thou only hast the words that will give us everlasting life."