Teaching

   Looking up! Discuss Jesus’ miracle to feed the crowd.

Let’s say our SuperTruth together. “Jesus blesses what I give Him.”

This means that Jesus multiplies or increases what we give, like He did with the boy’s lunch. Jesus takes what we give Him—even if it’s only a little—and He does greater things with it.

In our Superbook adventure today, Jesus was teaching a huge crowd of people. They were far away from any city or even a village where they could buy food. There were no concession stands or food trucks that you may see at large events today. There was no one walking up and down the aisles selling popcorn or hotdogs. There was only one young boy’s food basket that held two small fish and five loaves of bread.

The loaves did not mean loaves like this. Hold up the loaf of bread.

The loaves were about the size of dinner rolls. Show the basket items or the image.

The boy had only packed his basket to satisfy his need for the long day—not to feed even two or three people!

If you are using the actual basket, hold it up and demonstrate as you speak.

Jesus looked up to heaven and blessed the food. That means He asked God to increase or multiply it to feed everyone and fully satisfy their needs.

Raise your hand if you say a prayer before a meal, asking God to bless the food. Children respond.

Jesus gave us an example to follow before a meal. We should always look to God with a thankful heart and ask Him to bless the food we are about to eat. At school, you can even take a moment and pray silently to ask for God’s blessing upon your food—you do not need to make a scene and hold your lunch box or food tray up to the sky! God will honor your sincere prayer of thanks.

This miracle is often called “The Feeding of the 5000.”

Write 5000 on the board like you would for an addition problem.

However, the Bible tells us that 5000 was only the number of men present. We must add the number of women and children. Bible scholars believe that number to be about 10,000.

Write that number under 5000. Add a plus sign beside it and a line below it.

About how many people did Jesus feed that day? 15,000!

That is a huge crowd; so big that they might expect to get only a small snack at best. But, everyone not only ate—they were given all they wanted. They were fully satisfied. There was even one basket of leftover food!

See if the children are listening to catch your error—there were twelve baskets of leftovers.

Oh, I can’t fool you; good listening! Correct, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover food. I like to imagine the faces of the disciples and the young boy as they stared at the baskets of leftovers. Imagine what God will do with what you offer to Him!

Before Jesus’ miracle, He tested Philip to see what he would say about feeding the crowd. Jesus already knew what He was going to do—He wasn’t looking for advice. He wanted His disciples to see by faith what He could do. They failed the test, even though they had already seen Him turn water into gallons of wine!

Sometimes, we may pray and ask Jesus to send someone else to take care of a need. Let us first look at what we have to offer to Jesus so He can bless it. Jesus has a plan, and He can use us in it! It’s important to understand that God’s blessings are not just physical things. He blesses us spiritually and emotionally, too. The Holy Spirit fills us with God’s presence and gives us special abilities, spiritual gifts, and talents. He also produces spiritual fruit in us so we can be more like Christ and bless others.

Read Galatians 5:22–23 (NLT):

Let’s say our SuperVerse together. 2 Corinthians 9:10:

In our Bible story, the crowd’s physical need was fully satisfied. However, they would soon be hungry again. Physical blessings are temporary but spiritual blessings last forever! The greatest blessing we can give to others is to share the Gospel. When we do this, God will provide the increase!

Discipleship Challenge/Practical Application

Give any child who missed Lesson 1 a Water Jar and Cup Pattern. Show children the sample craft made in Lesson 1 and have them assemble the craft at home. Hold up the sample craft.

Raise your hand if you participated in the Discipleship Challenge for the previous lesson. What was the challenge about? Doing all that Jesus asks or says.

Correct! That’s what is written on the water jar. In the challenge, you were asked to read Luke 6:27–28 and then think of things Jesus is asking you to do.

Let’s read it now.

In your own words, what is Jesus asking us to do? Love our enemies. Be good to those who dislike us or even hate us. Ask God to bless those who are unkind or mistreat us or say unkind things. Pray for those who are cruel to us.

Were you able to put this into practice this week, and show love to people who aren’t nice to you? Even though we’re moving on to the next part of our challenge, keep working on this one as well.

Have a volunteer find Cup #2 in the water jar and read it aloud.

Forgive others—Mark 11:25. 

Optional: Read this verse and discuss it now.

For our second challenge, read this verse and ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with God’s love to give you the strength to forgive others—especially people you don’t get along with, or people who may have offended you. By forgiving them, you are doing what Jesus asks, and God will forgive you. Try to do this when people hurt you, instead of holding on to an offense and letting anger build up inside. It’s also important to talk about these things with a parent or a trusted adult to help you know how to handle the situation if it happens again. Try to memorize this verse as a reminder of what Jesus asks us to do each day.