2 Little Fishes

And 5 Loaves Of Bread

“...Give Ye Them To Eat...”  Matthew 14:16

This verse comes from the story of the little boy who had his lunch of five loaves and two fishes.  Jesus fed 5,000 with this small meal.  When I read this story I think of how his mother probably packed this lunch for him, just as I packed lunch for my children as they headed off for school.  Using this story for our devotional time, I put two toy fish and five rolls in a cloth bag to illustrate this story. Children today may wonder why Jesus didn't send the multitudes to McDonalds.  They don't understand that the people walked great distances to hear Jesus and there were no restuarants for them to buy food.  Explain to the children how Jesus walked through the towns and the people walked and followed Him.  Jesus would stand on the mountain side or on a small boat on the sea, and the people would stay and listen to Him as he would teach them about God.  (The scriptures from John 6 follow, with spaces between the verses for your notes.)  This is a wonderful story to teach children and the game is fun!

This is a simple game using paper lunch sacks and several lunch items.  In preparation, number each bag and place one item in each one, taping it closed.  Give everyone a piece of paper and pencil and tell them to number the paper, making sure that each knows to use the numbers on the bags to write down their guesses.  (Let the parents write down the answers for the children who can't write.)  Place the bags with different people at the table.  As they write their guess of what is in the bag beside the correct number, they pass the sacks from person to person. Tell them not to squeeze the bags too tightly.  A few ideas for the lunch bags might include: an apple, a banana, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (use a different type of sandwich if one of your guests may be allergic to peanuts), a small bottle of water, a fruit roll-up, cheese, a small bag of chips, a pickle in a plastic bag,  an oatmeal cookie, a can of soup, and a pack of nabs. (My boiled egg ended up in tiny pieces, and someone put her thumb through the lid of the applesauce cup, but all ages had lots of fun with this.) 

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John 6:1-14

1 After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.

2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.

3 And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.

4 And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.

5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith

unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?

6 And this he said to prove him; for he himself knew what he would do.

7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.

8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him,

9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?

10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.

12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.

13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.

14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.

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