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Supper for Five Thousand

¹ Sometime after, Jesus rode to the far side of the Sea of Galilee (also known as Lake Tiberias). ² Huge crowds followed him because they had seen many of the miracles he'd done on the sick and dying. ³ Then Jesus rode up on a hill and got off to rest. He sat with his cowboys around him. ⁴ The Jewish Passover festival was getting close. ⁵ The crowd finally made it up the hill so Jesus said to Phil, "Where can we get food for all these folks?" ⁶ Jesus wasn't asking a question but teaching them all a lesson.

⁷ Phil said, "It'd take a year's wages to buy all these people one piece of jerky, Boss! We don't have anything even close to that."

⁸ Then Andy, Pete's brother, chuckled and said, ⁹ "Is this boy's five biscuits and two pieces of jerky close, Phil?"

¹⁰ "Have everyone sit down," Jesus said. So about five thousand men (not counting women and children) all sat down on the grassy slope. ¹¹ Then Jesus lifted up the biscuits and thanked God for them and put them in a few different baskets to hand out to everyone. Everyone had as many biscuits as they could eat. He did the same thing with the jerky, and everyone got full. ¹² After everyone had eaten their fill, Jesus told his cowboys, "Gather up the leftovers so that nothing goes to waste." ¹³ They did as they were instructed and needed twelve baskets to get it all. The leftovers were more than they had started with.

¹⁴ Everyone who was there began saying, "This has to be the Top Hand we've been waiting on." ¹⁵ Jesus knew they were fixing to try to make him their king, so while they talked, he rode off into the hills by himself.

Walking on Water

¹⁶ That evening, Jesus's cowboy rode down to the water's edge to wait for their boss. ¹⁷ When he didn't show up, they got on a boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. ¹⁸ Soon a storm swept in, and the water started pitching like a rank bronc. ¹⁹ The cowboys had rowed about three of four miles when they saw Jesus walking casually toward them on the water. This scared the tar out of 'em all. ²⁰ When he got close, he said, "It's me, boys. Don't be scared." ²¹ Then they reached out and gave him a hand as he climbed into the boat. His second foot had no more touched the floor of the boat than they felt the bottom scrape land. In the blink of an eye, they had miraculously arrived at their destination.

The Bread of Life

²² The next day, the crowd noticed the cowboys had only taken one boat and they knew Jesus hadn't been with them. ²³ Several boats from the town of Tiberias had arrived where Jesus had fed everyone. ²⁴ When everyone realized that Jesus and his cowboys were not around, they got in the boats to go look for him. ²⁵ They found him in Capernaum and asked, "Hey Boss, when did you get here?"

²⁶ Jesus said to them, "Y'all aren't here to ride for God. You're here because I filled your bellies and now you're hungry and wanting another free meal. ²⁷ Quit chasing meaningless stuff like food and start longing for eternal life by riding for the Top Hand. For God has approved of him by giving him the key to the ranch."

²⁸ They all replied, "We want to rope, ride, and brand for God's outfit too. What do we have to do first to saddle up with ya?"

²⁹ Jesus said, "There is only one thing you have to do. Give your whole life to the Top Hand that God has sent ya."

³⁰ They pondered this for a second and then someone shouted out, "Well, show us a miracle so that we know you are the Top Hand. We want to see what you can do. I mean, our ancestors got to eat bread from heaven while they rode across the desert. ³¹ The Good Book says, 'Moses gave 'em biscuits from heaven to eat.'"

³² Jesus shot back, "The truth is, Moses didn't give nobody nothin'. My Father did. And now he is offerin' y'all the real bread from heaven. ³³ The real bread of God gives life, not full bellies."

³⁴ "Well," they replied, "give us this bread every day like our ancestors had, and we'll eat it."

³⁵ Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. Whoever rides for me will never be hungry again. Whoever gives his life to me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ I'm standing right here in front of you, but you still don't believe I am who I say I am. ³⁷ My Father will send the true cowboys to me, and I will never turn them away. ³⁸ I didn't ride all the way down here from heaven to do what I want, but only what my Father tells me to do. ³⁹ And this is what he has told me to do, 'Give eternal life in paradise to the real cowboys that I send you. Bring the dead back to life on the last day.'"

⁴¹ Then some arguing started breaking out because he had said, "I am the bread of life who rode down from heaven." ⁴² 

They said, "Isn't this the boy they call Jesus. Isn't this Joseph's son? We know both his parents. How can he say that he 'rode down from heaven'?"

⁴³ "Quit your bickerin'," Jesus said. ⁴⁴ "You can't decide who rides for me and who doesn't. You can't ride for me unless my Father sends you. And only those who my Father sends me will be raised up to life on the last day. ⁴⁵ That's why the Scriptures say, 'God will personally teach them how to ride for the brand.' You see? God ain't going to send nobody to me who hasn't listened and done what he told them to do. ⁴⁶ Not that any of you has seen God. Only the one sent from God has seen him.

⁴⁷ "Listen to the truth. Anyone who rides for me has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate manna from heaven in the desert, but they all died. ⁵⁰ Anyone who eats the bread from heaven will never die. ⁵¹ Remember, I am the living bread that rode down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever. This bread I offer the world is my flesh."

⁵² When Jesus said this, the place erupted in arguments. "How can this man cut his flesh off and feed us all? This is preposterous!"

⁵³ Jesus stared at them and said, "I'm telling you the truth. Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you are already dead. ⁵⁴ But any cowboy who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will pull him up out of the grave on the last day. ⁵⁵ My flesh is the real food you need, and my blood is the real drink you crave. ⁵⁶ Those who ride for me will eat my flesh and drink my blood. I will live in him, and he will live in me. ⁵⁷ The Father gave me life, and I will give that same life to the cowboy who rides for me. ⁵⁸ I am the real bread that rode down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die in the wilderness like your ancestors did (even though they did eat manna) but will live for eternity."

⁵⁹ He said all this while teaching in the church at Capernaum.

Cowboys Start Quitting Left and Right

⁶⁰ On hearing all of this, many of the day workers who followed him around said, "I quit. He's gone too far this time."

⁶¹ Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, "Is this too much for you? ⁶² If this is too much, then what would you think if you saw the Top Hand ride back into heaven with your own eyes? ⁶³ Your real life is a spiritual one that comes from the Spirit of God. You think life is what you can see and touch, but it's not. Your flesh is like the color of a horse. It's nothing but decoration. My words are not decoration. They are the foundation of Spirit and the foundation of life. ⁶⁴ Even now, there are some of you who do not believe what I tell you."

Jesus had known from day one that some of these who claimed to ride for him were counterfeits. They would be the ones who quit when the going got tough. ⁶⁵ Then he added, "That's why I told you that you wouldn't be able to ride for me unless God sent you."

⁶⁶ When the words had come out of his mouth, many of the day workers who had been trying to get on with Jesus walked out. ⁶⁷ Then Jesus turned to the twelve cowboys who rode for him and asked, "Are y'all going to quit, too?"

⁶⁸ Pete replied, "Lord, where would we go? You are the only one who holds the keys to God's ranch. Only your words give life to sorry cowboys. ⁶⁹ We believe what you said and we know with all our heart that you are the Holy One of God."

⁷⁰ Then Jesus said, "I picked y'all, but one of you has made a deal with the devil." He was talking about Judas Iscariot, one of the original twelve, who would double-cross him later.