Book of Common Prayer

²¹ Tell me, you people that want the law to control you, why do you not listen to the law?

²² The holy writings say that Abraham had two sons. One was the son of the slave woman. The other one was the son of the free woman.

²³ The child of the slave woman was born as any child is born. But the child of the free woman was born because God promised he would be born.

²⁴ These things have another meaning. These two women are like two agreements. One agreement came from Mount Sinai. The children are born slaves. That agreement is like Hagar.

²⁵ So Hagar means Mount Sinai in the country of Arabia. She is like the city of Jerusalem today, because Jerusalem is a slave and her children are too.

²⁶ But the city of Jerusalem in heaven is free, and that is our mother.

²⁷ The holy writings say, `The woman who has not had a child, be happy! You who do not feel the pain of bearing a child, open your mouth and shout. The woman who is left alone has more children than the woman who has a husband!'

²⁸ My brothers, we are like Isaac. We are born because God made a promise.

²⁹ Abraham's child who was born as any child is born, troubled the other child who was born by the Spirit. It is that way today.

³⁰ But what does the holy writings say? They says, `Put away the slave woman and her son. The son of the slave woman will have nothing when the father dies. The son of the free woman will have everything.'

³¹ So, my brothers, we are not the children of the slave woman, but we are children of the free woman.

²⁹ Many people came to him. They brought sick people with them. Some were lame. Some were hurt. Some were blind. Some could not talk. And there were many others. They laid them down in front of Jesus. And he healed them.

³⁰ The people were surprised. They saw that people who had not been able to talk were talking. They saw that people who were hurt were made well. They saw that lame people were walking. They saw that blind people could see. And they praised the God of Israel.

³¹ Jesus called his disciples to him. He said, `I share the suffering of the people. They have been with me for three days and they have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry. If they go away hungry, they will get weak and fall on the way.'

³² The disciples said to him, `Where can we get enough food in this lonely place to feed so many people?'

³³ Jesus said to them, `How many loaves of bread have you?' They said, `We have seven, and a few small fish.'

³⁴ He told the people to sit down on the ground.

³⁵ Then he took the seven loaves of bread and the fish. He thanked God for them. Then he broke the bread and gave it to the disciples. The disciples gave it to the people.

³⁶ They all ate and had enough. They gathered seven baskets full of pieces that were left.

³⁷ The number of people who ate was about four thousand men, besides some women and children.

³⁸ Jesus sent the people away. Then he got in the boat and went to the country around Magadan.