On their return the apostles told Jesus all they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida. When the crowds found out about it, they followed him; and he welcomed them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed to be cured.
The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.”
But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.”
They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish — unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” For there were about five thousand men.
And he said to his disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”
They did so and made them all sit down. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
“Hold on a minute, there, Jesus,” the twelve said. “Some of these people might be sinners and people we disapprove of. Feeding them all would be like opening a store and having to sell your wares to everyone who came in, without discriminating between the worthy and unworthy customers. That violates our religious liberty.”
And they became angry and refused to go in.
And Jesus said “Is it right for you to be angry about these loaves and cakes?”
And they said, “Yes, angry enough to die. Religious liberty, dammit, religious liberty.”
And Jesus said, “I do not think those words mean what you think they mean.”
And he set the loaves and fishes before the crowd by himself. And all ate and were filled.
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