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Around the same time, another large crowd gathered around Jesus who had nothing to eat. {Having seen this,} Jesus called his disciples to himself and said, 2 “I am very concerned for the people in this crowd. For they have been with me three days now without eating anything. 3 If I send them home while they are still hungry, some of them will grow weary on the way home. Some of them have come from far away.” 4 His disciples knew that he was suggesting that they give the people something to eat, so they replied, “No one could possibly find enough food for this crowd. No one sells food in this place! 5 Jesus asked them, “How many loaves of bread do you have?” They replied, “We have seven flat loaves.” 6 Jesus commanded the crowd, saying, “Sit down on the ground.” After they sat down, he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, broke them into pieces, and gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. 7 They also had a few small fish. So after Jesus thanked God for these, he told his disciples, “Distribute these also.” 8 The people ate this food, and there was enough for all of them. then, his disciples collected the pieces of food that were left over and filled seven large baskets. 9 There were about four thousand people who ate on that day. Then after they finished eating, Jesus dismissed the crowd. 10 Soon after that, he got into the boat along with his disciples. They went around the Sea of Galilee to the region of Dalmanutha.11 Then some Pharisees came to Jesus. They began arguing with him and insisting that he perform a miracle. They did this in order to test him and see if God had really sent him. 12 Jesus sighed deeply within himself, and then he said, “Why are you asking me to perform a miracle? I will certainly not do a miracle for you!” 13 Then he left the Pharisees again. He got into the boat, along with his disciples, and they went further around the Sea of Galilee. 14 His apprentices had forgotten to bring more bread onto the boat for their journey, so they only had one loaf with them. 15 As they were going, Jesus warned them saying, “Be careful! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod!” 16 The disciples were arguing amongst themselves about the fact that they did not have enough bread with them on the boat. 17 Jesus knew what they were discussing among themselves. So he said to them, “Why are you talking about not having enough bread? You should understand what I have said by now! You have become stubborn. 18 You have eyes, but you do not perceive what I have shown you! You have ears, but you do not understand what I say!” Then he said, “You do not remember what I have done! 19 when I broke only five loaves and fed the five thousand people? Not only was everyone satisfied, but there was food left over! How many baskets of pieces of bread that were left over did you collect?” They replied, “We collected twelve baskets full.” 20 Then he asked, “When I broke the seven loaves in order to feed the four thousand people, again when everyone had plenty to eat, how many large baskets of pieces of bread that were left over did you collect?” They replied, “We collected seven large baskets full.” 21 Then he said to them, “You still do not understand what I am telling you!”
22 They arrived in the boat at the town of Bethsaida. People brought a blind man to Jesus and begged him touch the man in order to heal him. 23 Jesus took the hand of the blind man and led him outside the town. Then he spat into the man’s eyes, put his hands on the man and then asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 The man looked up and then he said, “Yes, I see people! They are walking around, but I cannot see them clearly. They look like trees!” 25 Then Jesus again touched the eyes of the blind man. The man looked intently, and at that moment he was completely healed! He could see everything clearly. 26 Jesus said to him, “Do not go into the town!” Then he sent the man to his home.
27 Jesus and his disciples left the town of Bethsaida and went to the villages near the town of Caesarea Philippi. On the way there he asked them, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 They replied, “Some people say that you are John the Baptizer, who has come back to life. Others say that you are the prophet Elijah. And others say that you are one of the other former prophets.” 29 He asked them, “What about you? Who do you say that I am?” Peter replied to him, “We believe that you are the Messiah!” 30 Then Jesus warned them strongly that they should not tell anyone yet that he was the Messiah.
31 Then Jesus began to teach them that he, the Son of Man, would certainly suffer very much. He would be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the men who teach the Jewish laws. He would even be killed. But on the third day after he died, he would become alive again. 32 He said this to them clearly. But Peter took Jesus aside and started to scold him for talking this way. 33 Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples. Then he rebuked Peter, saying, “Stop thinking like that! Satan is causing you to talk like that! Instead of wanting what God wants me to do, you are wanting me to do only what people would want me to do.”
34 Then he called the crowd together along with his disciples so that they might listen to him. He told them, “If any one of you wants to be my disciple, you must disregard what you desire. You must also be willing to suffer pain like criminals who are forced to carry crosses to the places where they will be crucified. That is what anyone who wants to be my apprentice must do. 35 This is because those who try to save their lives by denying that they belong to me will suffer for an eternity. Those who are killed because they are my disciples and because they tell others the good news will live forever with me. 36 For it benefits no one eternally to save their life now, and then for God to punish them eternally after they finally die. 37 For there is nothing in this world which is worth the price which God puts on the life of a person. 38 Those who refuse to say that they belong to me, and who reject what I say in these days when many people have turned away from God and are very sinful, I, the Son of Man, will also refuse to say that they belong to me when I come back with the holy angels and have the glory that my Father has!”