The Fourth Sign: Feeding of the Five Thousand
1After6:1–15 Mt 14:13–21; Mk 6:30–44; Lk 9:10–17 this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee6:1 Mk 1:16 (or Tiberias6:1 Jn 6:23; 21:1).
2A huge crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was performing by healing the sick.
3Jesus went up a mountain and sat down there with his disciples.
4Now the Passover, a Jewish festival, was near.
8One of his disciples, Andrew,6:8 Mt 4:18; 10:2; Mk 1:16,29; 3:18; 13:3; Lk 6:14; Jn 1:40,44; 12:22; Ac 1:13 Simon6:8 Mt 16:17 Peter’s6:8 Lk 6:14; Ac 10:32 brother, said to him,
9“There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish — but what are they for so many?”
10Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.”
There was plenty of grass in that place; so they sat down. The men numbered about five thousand.6:10 Mt 14:21
11Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks he distributed them to those who were seated — so also with the fish, as much as they wanted.6:11 2Kg 4:42–44
12When they were full, he told his disciples, “Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.”6:12 Lk 15:4
13So they collected them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten.
The Fifth Sign: Walking on Water
16When6:16–21 Mt 14:22–36; Mk 6:45–56 evening came, his disciples went down to the sea,
17got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum.6:17 Lk 10:15 Darkness had already set in, but Jesus had not yet come to them.
18A high wind arose, and the sea began to churn.
19After they had rowed about three or four miles,6:19 Lit twenty-five or thirty stadia; one stadion = 600 feet they saw Jesus walking on the sea. He was coming near the boat, and they were afraid.
21Then they were willing to take him on board, and at once the boat was at the shore where they were heading.
The Bread of Life
22The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw there had been only one boat.6:22 Other mss add into which his disciples had entered6:22 Jn 21:8 They also saw that Jesus had not boarded the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone off alone.
23Some boats from Tiberias6:23 Jn 6:1; 21:1 came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
24When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
26Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw6:26 Or perceived the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
28“What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked.
30“What sign, then, are you going to do so that we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform?
32Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses6:32 Ps 77:20; Mt 8:4; Heb 3:2 didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
33For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35
“I am
6:35
Jn 8:24
the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me6:35 Lk 14:26 will ever be hungry,6:35 Jn 4:14; Rv 7:16 and no one who believes in me6:35 Mt 18:6; Mk 9:42; Jn 6:35; 7:38; 11:25–26; 12:44,46; 14:12; 16:9 will ever be thirsty6:35 Jn 7:37 again.
37Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out.6:37 Mt 24:22
38For I have come down from heaven,6:38 Ex 3:8; Pr 30:4; Dn 4:13,23; Mt 28:2; Jn 1:51; 3:13; Eph 4:10; Rv 10:1; 18:1; 20:1 not to do my own will, but the will of him6:38 Eph 1:9; 1Jn 2:17 who sent me.
41Therefore the Jews started grumbling about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
43Jesus answered them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves.
44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws6:44 Or brings, or leads him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
48I am the bread of life.
53So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man6:53 Mk 2:10 and drink his blood,6:53 Heb 9:12 you do not have life in yourselves.
54The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood6:54 Mt 26:26–29; Mk 14:22–25; Lk 22:15–20; 1Co 11:23–25 has eternal life, and I will raise6:54 Mt 16:21 him up on the last day,
55because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.
56The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.6:56 Jn 15:4–5; 1Jn 3:24; 4:13–16
57Just as the living6:57 Mt 25:31–46; Heb 10:31 Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live6:57 Php 1:21; 1Pt 1:18 because of me.
Many Disciples Desert Jesus
60Therefore, when many of his disciples heard this, they said, “This teaching is hard. Who can accept6:60 Lit hear it?”
61Jesus, knowing in himself6:61 Mk 10:32; Jn 1:47–48; 2:24–25; 4:17–18; 9:3; 11:4,11; 13:10–11,38 that his disciples were grumbling about this, asked them, “Does this offend you?
62Then what if you were to observe the Son of Man6:62 Mk 2:10 ascending6:62 Jn 3:13; 20:17; Ac 1:9 to where he was before?
63The Spirit6:63 Ps 51:11; Jn 1:33; Ac 2:4; Rm 8:9; Gl 5:25; Ti 3:5; Rv 3:22 is the one who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
66From that moment6:66 Or Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer accompanied him.
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