Book of Common Prayer

¹⁸ Children, we are very near the end of time. You have heard that someone will come who is against Christ. Many who are against Christ have already come. That is how we know that we are very near the end of time.

¹⁹ They left us, but they did not belong with us. If they had belonged with us, they would have stayed with us. But they left us so that people could see that all of them did not belong with us.

²⁰ But the Holy One has given you a gift of understanding so that you all may know what is true.

²¹ I write to you, not because you do not know what is true, but because you do know. And you know that no lie is true.

²² Who then is the one who says what is not true? It is the one who says that Jesus is not the Christ. That person is against Christ, because he says there is no Father and there is no Son.

²³ Everyone who says Jesus is not the Son does not know the Father. And everyone who says Jesus is the Son knows the Father.

²⁴ So keep what you have heard from the beginning. If you keep what you have heard from the beginning, you too belong to the Son and to the Father.

²⁵ And he himself has promised us that we will live for ever.

²⁶ I have written these things to you about the ones who try to fool you.

²⁷ You have a gift of understanding from Christ. That gift stays with you. You do not need anyone to teach you. His gift teaches you about everything. It is true. It is not a lie. So stay with him as he has taught you.

²⁸ Now, my children, stay with Christ. Then we will not be afraid on that day when we see him again. We will not be ashamed to stand before him when he comes again.

²⁹ You know that he does what is right. So you know also that everyone who does what is right is his child.

³⁰ The apostles came back to Jesus. They told him all they had done and taught.

³¹ Jesus said to them, `Come away with me. Let us go alone to a quiet place and rest for a while.' Many people were coming and going. They could not even eat.

³² So they went away in a boat to a lonely place by themselves.

³³ The people saw them going. Many people knew them. The people ran from all the towns and got there ahead of them.

³⁴ When the boat got there, Jesus saw the many people. He was very sorry for them because they were like sheep with no one to care for them. He began to teach them many things.

³⁵ When it was late in the day, his disciples came to him. They said, `This is a lonely place and the time is late.

³⁶ Send these people away to farms and villages to buy food for themselves. They have nothing to eat.'

³⁷ Jesus said, `You give them food to eat.' They said, `Shall we go and buy a lot of bread and give them to eat?'

³⁸ He said, `Go and see how much bread you have.' When they knew, they told him, `We have five loaves of bread and two fish.'

³⁹ Jesus told the disciples to make all the people sit on the green grass in groups.

⁴⁰ The people sat down in groups. Some groups were a hundred people and some were fifty people.

⁴¹ Jesus took the five loaves of bread and the two fish. He looked up to heaven and thanked God for them. Then he broke them in pieces. He gave them to the disciples to give to the people. Then he divided the two fish among them all.

⁴² They all ate and had enough.

⁴³ Then they gathered twelve baskets full of pieces that were left.

⁴⁴ The number of men who ate was about five thousand.