12. Late in the afternoon, the twelve apostles came to Jesus and said, “No one lives in this place. Send the people away. They need to find food and places to sleep in the farms and towns around here.”
13. But Jesus said to the apostles, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish. Do you want us to go buy food for all these people?” There are too many!
14. (There were about 5000 men there.) Jesus said to his followers, “Tell the people to sit in groups of about 50 people.”
15. So the followers did this and everyone sat down.
16. Then Jesus took the five loaves of bread and two fish. He looked up into the sky and thanked God for the food. Then he broke it into pieces, which he gave to the followers to give to the people.
17. They all ate until they were full. And there was a lot of food left. Twelve baskets were filled with the pieces of food that were not eaten.
18. One time Jesus was praying alone. His followers came together there, and he asked them, “Who do the people say I am?”
19. They answered, “Some people say you are John the Baptizer. Others say you are Elijah. And some people say you are one of the prophets from long ago that has come back to life.”
20. Then Jesus said to his followers, “And who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah from God.”
21. Jesus warned them not to tell anyone.
22. Then Jesus said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the older Jewish leaders, the leading priests, and teachers of the law. And he will be killed. But after three days he will be raised from death.”
23. Jesus continued to say to all of them, “Any of you who want to be my follower must stop thinking about yourself and what you want. You must be willing to carry the cross that is given to you every day for following me.
24. Any of you who try to save the life you have will lose it. But you who give up your life for me will save it.
25. It is worth nothing for you to have the whole world if you yourself are destroyed or lost.