6 Some time after this, Jesus
crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and
a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had
performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a
mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish
Passover Festival was near.
5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward
him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He
asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to
do.
7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s
wages[a] to buy
enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother,
spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and
two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of
grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus
then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as
much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his
disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So
they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley
loaves left over by those who had eaten.
14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to
say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Jesus,
knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again
to a mountain by himself.
Jesus
Walks on the Water
16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, 17 where
they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was
dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. 18 A strong wind was
blowing and the waters grew rough. 19 When they had rowed about
three or four miles,[b] they saw
Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. 20 But
he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.” 21 Then they were
willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore
where they were heading.
22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore
of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not
entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. 23 Then
some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the
bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 Once the crowd
realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the
boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.
Jesus
the Bread of Life
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they
asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for
me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves
and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for
food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on
him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God
requires?”
29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the
one he has sent.”
30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may
see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate
the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven
to eat.’[c]”
32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses
who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the
true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread
that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes
to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But
as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All
those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never
drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my
will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the
will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me,
but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is
that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life,
and I will raise them up at the last day.”
41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he
said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said,
“Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can
he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws
them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is
written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’[d] Everyone
who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No
one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the
Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has
eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your
ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But
here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not
die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will
give for the life of the world.”
52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How
can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever
eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at
the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real
drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in
me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I
live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors
ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He
said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Many
Disciples Desert Jesus
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard
teaching. Who can accept it?”
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus
said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see
the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit
gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they
are full of the Spirit[e] and life. 64 Yet
there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the
beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He
went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the
Father has enabled them.”
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no
longer followed him.
67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the
Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You
have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and
to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not
chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71 (He
meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was
later to betray him.)
12 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany,
where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was
given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining
at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint[a] of pure nard, an
expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her
hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to
betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to
the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” 6 He did not say this because he
cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he
used to help himself to what was put into it.
7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that
she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have
the poor among you,© but you will not always have me.”
9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was
there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had
raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,
11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and
believing in him.
Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King
12 The next day the great crowd that had come for the
festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took palm branches
and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna![d]”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”[e]
“Blessed is the king of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is
written:
15
“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
see, your king is
coming,
seated on a
donkey’s colt.”[f]
16 At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only
after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written
about him and that these things had been done to him.
17 Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus
from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18
Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out
to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us
nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
Jesus Predicts His Death
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to
worship at the festival. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in
Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22
Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to
be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the
ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces
many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates
their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me
must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor
the one who serves me.
27 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father,
save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.
28 Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and
will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had
thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine.
31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world
will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up[g]
from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show
the kind of death he was going to die.
34 The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the
Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted
up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”
35 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light
just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness
overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. 36
Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children
of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
Belief and Unbelief Among the Jews
37 Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their
presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word
of Isaiah the prophet:
“Lord, who has believed our message
and to whom has
the arm of the Lord been revealed?”[h]
39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as
Isaiah says elsewhere:
40
“He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their
hearts,
so they can neither see with their eyes,
nor understand
with their hearts,
nor turn—and I
would heal them.”
41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke
about him.
42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed
in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their
faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved human
praise more than praise from God.
44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not
believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 The one who looks at me is
seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that
no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
47 “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do
not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.
48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words;
the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. 49 For I did
not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I
have spoken. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I
say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
On Denying the Incarnation
4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the
spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone
out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every
spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3
but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the
spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is
already in the world.
4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them,
because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5
They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world,
and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens
to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we
recognize the Spirit[a] of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
God’s Love and Ours
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from
God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not
love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love
among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live
through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and
sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God
so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God;
but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in
us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He
has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and
testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and
they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in
them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have
confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is
no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with
punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to
love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love
their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have
not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also
love their brother and sister.
