Book of Common Prayer

The letter to Philadelphia

⁷ “Write this to the angel of the church in Philadelphia. ‘These are the words of the Holy One, the True One, the one who has the key of David, who opens and nobody shuts, who shuts and nobody opens. ⁸ I know your works. Look! I have given you an open door, right in front of you, and nobody can shut it, since you have a little power; you have kept my word, and you haven’t denied my name. ⁹ Look: this is what I will do to the satan-synagogue, who call themselves Jews but who are frauds, nothing of the kind. Take note: this is what I will grant you—that I will make them come and worship before your feet, and they will know that I have loved you. ¹⁰ You have kept my word about patience, and so I will keep you from the time of trial that is going to come upon the whole world, to test out all the inhabitants of the earth. ¹¹ I am coming quickly! Hold on to what you have, so that nobody takes away your crown. ¹² Anyone who conquers, I will make them a pillar in the temple of my God. They will never go out of it again. I will write on that person the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name. ¹³ Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the spirit is saying to the churches.’

¹⁵ So when Jesus realized that they were intending to come and seize him to make him king, he withdrew again, by himself, up the mountain.

Jesus walking on the water

¹⁶ When it was evening, Jesus’ disciples went down to the seashore. ¹⁷ They got into a boat, and went across the sea towards Capernaum. It was already getting dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸ A strong wind blew up, and the sea began to get rough. ¹⁹ They had been rowing for about three or four miles when they saw Jesus walking on the sea, coming towards the boat. They were terrified.

²⁰ But he spoke to them.

“It’s me!” he said. “Don’t be afraid!”

²¹ Then they were eager to take him into the boat; and at once the boat arrived at the land they had been making for.

²² The next day the crowd that had remained on the far side of the lake saw that there had only been the one boat there. They knew that Jesus hadn’t gone with his disciples, but that the disciples had set off by themselves. ²³ But other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴ When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

²⁵ When they found him beside the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

Bread from heaven

²⁶ This was Jesus’ reply.

“I’m telling you the solemn truth,” he said. “You aren’t looking for me because you saw signs, but because you ate as much bread as you could. ²⁷ You shouldn’t be working for perishable food, but for food that will last to the life of God’s coming age—the food which the son of man will give you, the person whom God the father has stamped with the seal of his approval.”