Tuesday, March 28, 2023 | John 8:21-30

Jesus said to the crowds:"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,and I will raise him on the last day.It is written in the prophets:They shall all be taught by God.Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.Not that anyone has seen the Fatherexcept the one who is from God;he has seen the Father.Amen, amen, I say to you,whoever believes has eternal life.I am the bread of life.Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;this is the bread that comes down from heavenso that one may eat it and not die.I am the living bread that came down from heaven;whoever eats this bread will live forever;and the bread that I will giveis my Flesh for the life of the world."

Jesus said to the crowds,"I am the bread of life;whoever comes to me will never hunger,and whoever believes in me will never thirst.But I told you that although you have seen me,you do not believe.Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,because I came down from heaven not to do my own willbut the will of the one who sent me.And this is the will of the one who sent me,that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,but that I should raise it on the last day.For this is the will of my Father,that everyone who sees the Son and believes in himmay have eternal life,and I shall raise him on the last day."

The crowd said to Jesus:"What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?What can you do?Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:He gave them bread from heaven to eat."So Jesus said to them,"Amen, amen, I say to you,it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven;my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.For the bread of God is that which comes down from heavenand gives life to the world."So they said to Jesus,"Sir, give us this bread always."Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life;whoever comes to me will never hunger,and whoever believes in me will never thirst."

[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.]The next day, the crowd that remained across the seasaw that there had been only one boat there,and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat,but only his disciples had left.Other boats came from Tiberiasnear the place where they had eaten the breadwhen the Lord gave thanks.When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,they themselves got into boatsand came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.And when they found him across the sea they said to him,“Rabbi, when did you get here?”Jesus answered them and said,“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for menot because you saw signsbut because you ate the loaves and were filled.Do not work for food that perishesbut for the food that endures for eternal life,which the Son of Man will give you.For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”So they said to him,“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”Jesus answered and said to them,“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way,and how Jesus was made known to themin the breaking of bread.While they were still speaking about this,he stood in their midst and said to them,"Peace be with you."But they were startled and terrifiedand thought that they were seeing a ghost.Then he said to them, "Why are you troubled?And why do questions arise in your hearts?Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bonesas you can see I have."And as he said this,he showed them his hands and his feet.While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?"They gave him a piece of baked fish;he took it and ate it in front of them.He said to them,"These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,that everything written about me in the law of Mosesand in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled."Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.And he said to them,"Thus it is written that the Christ would sufferand rise from the dead on the third dayand that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,would be preached in his nameto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.You are witnesses of these things."

When it was evening, the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea,embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum.It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.When they had rowed about three or four miles,they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat,and they began to be afraid.But he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.”They wanted to take him into the boat,but the boat immediately arrived at the shoreto which they were heading.

Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee.A large crowd followed him,because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.Jesus went up on the mountain,and there he sat down with his disciples.The Jewish feast of Passover was near.When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him,he said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?"He said this to test him,because he himself knew what he was going to do.Philip answered him,"Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enoughfor each of them to have a little."One of his disciples,Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him,"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;but what good are these for so many?"Jesus said, "Have the people recline."Now there was a great deal of grass in that place.So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks,and distributed them to those who were reclining,and also as much of the fish as they wanted.When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples,"Gather the fragments left over,so that nothing will be wasted."So they collected them,and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragmentsfrom the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.When the people saw the sign he had done, they said,"This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world."Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him offto make him king,he withdrew again to the mountain alone.

The one who comes from above is above all.The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things.But the one who comes from heaven is above all.He testifies to what he has seen and heard,but no one accepts his testimony.Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy.For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him.Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life,but the wrath of God remains upon him.

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,so that everyone who believes in him might not perishbut might have eternal life.For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,but that the world might be saved through him.Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.And this is the verdict,that the light came into the world,but people preferred darkness to light,because their works were evil.For everyone who does wicked things hates the lightand does not come toward the light,so that his works might not be exposed.But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

Jesus said to Nicodemus:"'You must be born from above.'The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes,but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes;so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."Nicodemus answered and said to him,'How can this happen?"Jesus answered and said to him,"You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this?Amen, amen, I say to you,we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen,but you people do not accept our testimony.If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe,how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?No one has gone up to heavenexcept the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,so must the Son of Man be lifted up,so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."