Of all the miracles Jesus did, only one shows up in all four Gospels. This must have been one of the most famous days in Jesus’s ministry. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wanted everyone to know about it.

This miracle involved a lot of people. We have to remember that Jesus and his disciples were busy people. They had lots of work to do, and lots of people wanted to be around them.

Mainly, the people wanted to be near Jesus—to hear his teaching, to receive his blessing, to see his miracles. Jesus was so busy he hardly had a moment to himself.

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go away by ourselves. It’s time for a rest.” So they got in a boat in search of a quiet place.

But their peace and quiet would have to wait. Once the people saw Jesus sail away in the boat, they ran around on land to meet him on the shore. When Jesus got out of the boat, the crowds were as big as ever. Even though Jesus wanted a break, he saw that the people were in need, so he took time to teach them.

After awhile the disciples realized it was getting late. The people were hungry, and there was nothing around for miles. No restaurants. No grocery stores. No pizza delivery. There was barely any food, barely any money, and a whole bunch of tired, hungry people.

Just then Andrew, one of the disciples, found a boy with a couple of fishburgers. “This boy has five loaves of bread and two fish,” Andrew said. “But that’s not enough for all these people.” Normally, Andrew would have been right. There were five thousand men to feed, plus women and children.

But Jesus was not a normal man. He was God’s Son, and he could do things no one else thought possible. He took the little boy’s lunch and passed it out to the crowd. And the food kept going . . . and going . . . and going . . . and going. It never ran out. In fact, when everyone was full, there were still twelve baskets of food left over—one basket for each of the disciples to see what Jesus had done. The people were amazed and thought, “Maybe this is the prophet and king we’ve been waiting for.”