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,^(A) whose father and mother we know?^(B) How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”^(C)

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about^[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.^{(A) 19} Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet^[b] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce^(B) her quietly.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel^(C) of the Lord appeared to him in a dream^(D) and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,^[c](E) because he will save his people from their sins.”^(F)

²² All this took place to fulfill^(G) what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^[d](H) (which means “God with us”).

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel^(I) of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.^(J)

Do Not Worry^(A)

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry^(B) about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.^(C) Are you not much more valuable than they?^{(D) 27} Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?^(E)

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor^(F) was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?^{(G) 31} So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.^{(H) 33} But seek first his kingdom^(I) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.^(J)

⁴³ “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. ⁴⁴ “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them,^(A) and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’^[a](B) 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;^(C) only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.^{(D) 48} I am the bread of life.^{(E) 49} Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.^{(F) 50} But here is the bread that comes down from heaven,^(G) which anyone may eat and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread^(H) that came down from heaven.^(I) Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”^(J)

¹⁷ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message,^(A) and the message is heard through the word about Christ.^(B)

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am^(A) the way^(B) and the truth^(C) and the life.^(D) No one comes to the Father except through me.^{(E) 7} If you really know me, you will know^[a] my Father as well.^(F) From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

⁸ Philip^(G) said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

⁹ Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.^(H) How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?^(I) The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority.^(J) Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.^{(K) 12} Very truly I tell you, whoever believes^(L) in me will do the works I have been doing,^(M) and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am^(A) the resurrection and the life.^(B) The one who believes^(C) in me will live, even though they die;

⁵¹ I am the living bread^(A) that came down from heaven.^(B) Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”^(C)

⁵² Then the Jews^(D) began to argue sharply among themselves,^(E) “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^(F) of the Son of Man^(G) and drink his blood,^(H) 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.^{(I) 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.^{(J) 57} Just as the living Father sent me^(K) 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.”^{(L) 59} He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

⁴ The Jewish Passover Festival^(A) was near.