Read the Gospels in 40 Days
Jesus Restores the Work of God[a]
Chapter 5
The Sign Given on a Sabbath.[b] 1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish feasts. 2 Now in Jerusalem, by the Sheep Gate, there is a pool that in Hebrew is called Bethesda.[c] It has five porticos, 3 and in these a large number of invalids used to lie, people who were blind, lame, and paralyzed, waiting for the movement of the water.[d] [ 4 For occasionally an angel of the Lord would come down into the pool and stir up the water. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease he had.][e]
5 A man who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and was aware that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 The invalid answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am still on my way, someone else steps into the pool ahead of me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise! Take up your mat and walk!” 9 Immediately, the man was cured, and he took up his mat and began to walk.
Now that day was a Sabbath. 10 Therefore, the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “Today is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” 11 He replied, “The man who cured me said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk!’ ” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who told you to take it up and walk?” 13 But the man who had been cured did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that was there.
14 Later, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that Jesus was the man who had made him well. 16 Therefore, the Jews began to harass Jesus because he was doing such things on the Sabbath. 17 However, Jesus responded to them, saying,
“My Father is still working,
and I am at work as well.”
18 For this reason, the Jews became even more determined to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but also calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.
19 The Work of the Son.[f] Jesus replied to them, saying,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
the Son can do nothing by himself;
he can do only what he sees the Father doing.
For whatever the Father does,
the Son also does.
20 For the Father loves the Son
and shows him everything
that he himself is doing.
And he will show him
even greater works than these,
so that you might be astonished.
21 “Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead
and gives them life,
so does the Son give life
to anyone he chooses.
22 The Father judges no one,
for he has entrusted all judgment to the Son,
23 so that all may honor the Son
as they honor the Father.
Anyone who does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent him.
24 “Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever hears my words
and believes in the one who sent me
possesses eternal life.
He will not come to judgment
but has passed from death to life.
25 “Amen, amen, I say to you,
the hour is coming,
indeed it is already here,
when the dead will hear
the voice of the Son of God,
and all those who hear it will live.
26 For just as the Father has life in himself,
so also he has granted the Son to have life in himself.
27 And he has also granted him
the power to pass judgment,
because he is the Son of Man.
28 “Do not be astonished at this,
for the hour is coming
when all those who are in their graves
will hear his voice
29 and will come forth from their graves.
Those who have done good deeds
will rise to life,
while those who have done evil
will rise to judgment.
30 “I can do nothing on my own.
As I hear, I judge,
and my judgment is just,
because I seek to do
not my own will
but the will of him who sent me.
A Witness to Jesus
31 [g]“If I were to testify about myself,
my testimony would not be true.
32 However, there is another who testifies about me,
and I know that his testimony is true,
the testimony he bore concerning me.
33 You sent messengers to John,
and he has testified to the truth.
34 Not that I accept such human testimony,
but I say these things
so that you may be saved.
35 “John was a burning and shining lamp,
and for a time you were willing
to exult in his light.
36 But I have testimony that is greater than John’s.
The works that my Father
has given me to accomplish,
the very works that I am doing,
testify about me,
that the Father has sent me.
37 “And the Father who sent me
has himself testified about me.
You have not heard his voice
or seen his form,
38 and you do not have his word
abiding in you,
because you do not believe
him whom he has sent.
39 “Search the Scriptures carefully
because you believe that through them
you will gain eternal life.
Even they testify on my behalf.
40 Yet you refuse to come to me
to receive that life.
Unbelief of Jesus’ Hearers
41 “I do not accept the praise of men.
42 Moreover, I know that you do not have
the love of God in your hearts.
43 I have come in the name of my Father,
yet you do not accept me.
But if another should come in his own name,
you will accept him.
44 How can you believe
when you accept praise from one another,
yet you do not seek
the praise that comes from
the only God?
45 “Do not think that I will accuse you
before the Father.
You have placed your hope in Moses,
and he is the one who will accuse you.
46 If you truly believed Moses,
you would have believed in me,
for it is about me that he wrote.
47 But since you do not believe what he wrote,
how will you believe what I say?”
The Bread of Life[h]
Chapter 6
Signs of Salvation
Jesus Feeds the Crowds.[i] 1 After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias, 2 and a large crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he performed on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down there with his disciples. 4 The Jewish feast of Passover was approaching.
5 When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for them to eat?” 6 He said this to test him, because Jesus himself knew what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages[j] would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a small piece.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what help will they be among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was plenty of grass in that place, so the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 When they all had eaten enough, he said to the disciples, “Gather up the fragments that are left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.
14 When the people saw the sign he had performed, they began to say, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Then Jesus realized that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, so he again withdrew to the mountain by himself.
16 Jesus Walks on the Water.[k] When evening came, the disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into a boat, and set out across the sea to Capernaum. It was already dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. 18 The sea then became rough because a strong wind had started to blow.
19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and approaching the boat, and they were terrified. 20 But he said to them, “It is I.[l] Do not be afraid!” 21 They were ready to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately reached the shore toward which they were heading.
Jesus, the Bread of Life for Believers[m]
Earthly Food and Heavenly Bread.[n] The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea realized that there had only been one boat there, and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples; rather, the disciples had left by themselves. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where the people 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 the people found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
you came looking for me
not because you have seen signs
but because you ate the loaves
and your hunger was satisfied.
27 Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For it is on him
that God the Father has set his seal.”
28 Then they asked him, “What must we do if we are to carry out the works of God?” 29 Jesus replied,
“This is the work of God:
to believe in the one whom he has sent.”
30 They asked him further, “What sign can you give us that we can see and come to believe in you? What work will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate manna in the desert. As it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven[o] to eat.’ ” 32 Jesus replied,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
it was not Moses
who gave you the bread from heaven.
It is my Father
who gives you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the bread of God is
he who comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.”
34 The Bread of Life.[p]“Sir,” they begged him, “give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus answered them,
“I am[q] the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me will never be hungry,
and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
36 But I said to you that you have seen me
and yet you do not believe.
37 All that the Father gives me
will come to me,
and anyone who comes to me
I will never turn away.
38 For I have come down from heaven
not to do my own will
but the will of him who sent me.
39 “And this is the will of him who sent me:
that I should lose nothing
of all that he has given me,
but that I should raise it up
on the last day.
40 This indeed is the will of my Father:
that all who see the Son
and believe in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise them up
on the last day.”
41 Faith, a Gift of God.[r] Then the Jews murmured 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? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43 “Stop murmuring among yourselves!” Jesus said.
44 “No one can come to me
unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me,
and I will raise up that person on the last day.
45 It is written in the Prophets,
‘They will all be taught by God.’
Everyone who has listened to my Father
and learned from him comes to me.
46 Not that anyone has seen the Father
except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father.
47 “Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.
My Flesh for the Life of the World[s]
48 “I am the bread of life.
49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness,
and yet they died.
50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven,
so that one may eat it and not die.
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
Whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh, for the life of the world.”
52 Then the Jews started to argue among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.
54 Whoever feeds upon my flesh
and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him up on the last day.
55 For my flesh is real food,
and my blood is real drink.
56 “Whoever feeds upon my flesh and drinks my blood
dwells in me and I dwell in him.
57 Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so whoever feeds upon me will live because of me.
58 This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate
and nevertheless died,
the one who feeds upon this bread
will live forever.”
59 The Holy One of God.[t] Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. 60 After hearing his words, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard saying. Who can accept it?” 61 Aware of the complaints of his disciples, Jesus said to them,
“Does this shock you?
62 What then if you were to behold the Son of Man
ascend to where he was before?
63 It is the spirit that gives life;
the flesh[u] can achieve nothing.
The words that I have spoken to you
are spirit and life.
64 But there are some among you
who do not believe.”
For from the very beginning Jesus knew who did not believe, and who would betray him. 65 He said,
“This is why I told you
that no one can come to me
unless it is granted to him by my Father.”
66 After this, many of his disciples turned away and no longer remained with him. 67 Then Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you also wish to leave?” 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 know that you are the Holy One of God.”
70 Jesus replied, “Did I not choose you twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He was speaking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Although he was one of the Twelve, he would be the one who would betray him.
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