(Tap footnote to read it. Old Testament quotations are underlined. "Love" with a caret ("^love") is agapé.1"agapé" The Greek words ἀγάπη (agapé, noun), and ἀγαπάω (agapaó; verb) are typically translated "love". However, unlike our English word "love" – which primarily speaks of affection and feelings – agapé centers on choice and behavior. It’s the "love" based on will, choice, behavior, and action; not feelings. (Feelings-based love is the Greek word φιλέω (phileó), which properly means "brotherly love/affection".) Thus, you could hate someone passionately and still treat him with "agapé". Agapé "love" is best understood as the pursuit of what is most beneficial to someone or something, regardless of the cost to yourself or the type of response received from the person or thing. It can also indicate a preference for someone or something over other things. )
Feeding four thousand
- In those days – with the crowd again being great and not having anything they could eat – He summoned the disciples and tells them:
- “I’m moved with compassion for the crowd because they already remain with Me three days and don’t have something they could eat.
- “And if I send them away to their homes without eating, they will grow weary on the way, and some of them have come from afar.”
- And His disciples answered Him: “From where will anyone here be able to satisfy these men with bread on account of this wilderness.
- And He was asking them: “How many loaves do you have?” And they said “Seven.”
- And He instructs the crowd to recline on the ground. And having taken the seven loaves and having given thanks, He broke them and was giving them to His disciples so they might set the food before the crowd, and they set it before the crowd.
- And they also had a few small fish. And having blessed them, He directed these fish to be set before them too.
- And they ate and were satisfied. And they picked up seven large baskets full of leftover pieces.
- Now, there were about four thousand men and He sent them away.
If a sign will be given
- And having immediately entered into the boat with His disciples, He came to the region of Dalmanutha.
- And the Pharisees came out and began to dispute with Him, testing Him by seeking a sign from heaven from Him.
- And having sighed deeply in His spirit, He says: “Why is this generation seeking a sign? Amen I tell you: may God do such to Me and more1“may God do such to Me and more” This phrase was added because the Greek literally reads ” Amen I tell you: if this generation will be given a sign”. This is in imitation of a Hebrew idiom often found in the Old Testament which is usually phrased “May God do ____ to me and more if I do ____”, which is an extremely strong negative statement in the Old Testament. if this generation will be given a sign.”
Forgetting Bread
- And having left them, He again embarked into a boat and departed to the other side of the sea.
- And they forgot to take bread, and except one loaf they didn’t have any with themselves in the boat.
- And He was instructing them saying: “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
- And they were reasoning to one another that He said this because they don’t have bread.
- And having known this, He tells them: “Why are you reasoning because you don’t have bread? Don’t you yet understand nor comprehend? Do you have *hardening in your heart?
- “Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not listen?2quotation/allusion to Ezekiel 12:2 and/or Jeremiah 5:21 And don’t you remember?
- “When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you pick up?” They tell Him: “Twelve”
- He said: “And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of pieces did you pick up?” And they say: “Seven”
- And He was saying to them: “Do you not yet understand?”
Healing a blind man
- And they come to Bethsaida. And they bring a blind man to Him and implore Him so He might touch him.
- And having taken the blind man’s hand, He brought him out of the village. And having spit on his eyes and having put His hands on him, He was asking him: “Do you see anything?”
- And having looked up, he was answering: “I see men that look like trees, I see them walking around.”
- Then He put His hands on his eyes again, and he looked and he was restored, and he was seeing each and every thing clearly.
- And He sent him to his home, saying: “Don’t even enter into the village, [nor tell anyone in the village].”
Who Jesus is
- And Jesus and His disciples went out into the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way, He was questioning His disciples, saying to them: “Who do men declare Me to be?”
- And they answered Him, saying: “Some say John the Baptizer, and others say Elijah, but others say one of the prophets.”
- And He was questioning them: “But who do you declare Me to be?” Answering, Peters tells Him: “You are the Anointed.”
- And He warned them so they might tell no one about Him.
- And He began to teach them that it’s necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things; and to be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes; and to be killed; and after three days to rise from the dead,
- and He was stating this word plainly. And having taken Him aside, Peter began to rebuke Him.
- But having turned and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter and says: “Get behind Me Satan, because you aren’t minding the things of God, but the things of men.
How to follow Jesus
- And having summoned the crowd along with His disciples, He told them: “If anyone wants to come follow after Me, he must utterly deny himself, and pick up his cross, and follow Me.
- “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life on account of Me and the good news; He will save it.
- “For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his life?3“life” the Greek word here is “ψυχή” (psuché), usually translated “soul” here. However, it’s the same world that’s universally translated “life” in the preceding verse. Further, it does not mean the part of us which survives death and goes to reward or punishment (Biblically that’s our spirit. In Revelation 8:9, animals are said to have “psuché”.) Psuché literally means “breath” and is usually translated “life”. It refers to the life; the vital force which – together with the body – enables a person to live. It can also refer to mind, will, emotions, and desires, which together make up a person’s identity.
- “For what might a man give as a price in exchange for his life?4“life” see previous note
- “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
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