February 21st, 2026

e are in a new season. This Sunday’s title is the First Sunday in Lent. The tradition is that the Gospel Reading for this Sunday covers the temptation of Jesus at the beginning of his public ministry. Since this is year A in the three-year series, that Reading is from the Gospel according to Matthew, and the text is Matthew 4:1-11. And this same text happens to be the Gospel Reading for the One-Year Lectionary.

With last week’s Gospel Reading from chapter seventeen, to this week’s Reading being chapter four, to next week’s Reading being from the Gospel according to John, there are significant jumps in this set of lectionary readings. Within the writings of this website, we have been going through the four gospel accounts, taking a little at a time, in the order in which they were typically laid out. And these writings are currently going through the Gospel according to John, and we are currently on what is typically called the sixth chapter of that account.

It may be helpful to note a more specific context to that chapter. At the beginning of this chapter, Jesus fed five thousand men, along with many women and children, and that gave him a lot of notoriety among the people. Jesus, in his words after the miracle, is in the process of trying to get them to not so much focus solely on himself and the miracle, nor upon Moses, but to focus on Jesus’ Father, the One in heaven.

Near the beginning of his talk before the following section, Jesus described himself as the “Bread of life”. At the end, he talked about people believing in him, and that by believing in him, they would have eternal life. And the very last point of Jesus is that he would raise those people on the very last day—it was called the “eschaton” day in the translation. After that point, the grumbling started that will be in this week’s text. And the text itself helps a bit by pointing out the reason for the grumbling. It will also point to the important points that Jesus just gave. Often it is good to repeat important things.

If you are familiar with the translations of this writing, you may skip this and the following paragraph. But it may be helpful to repeat what has been said in the past. The translation below may be described as EXTREMELY literal, and because of that, it may be helpful to have another translation of the text nearby or perhaps a study bible.

The first thing to mention regarding the description of being EXTREMELY literal is that the verse numbers will not be included within the text itself. These numbers were added later and may be distracting from the overall message of the text. It should also be noted that the words with hyphens occur when more than one English word is used to describe a single word of the ancient Greek. And the particular words chosen below are meant to point out the close connection that sometimes occurs between the English and Greek languages. Also important to mention is that the order of the words below is also the same order that is in the ancient Greek. This may help to show the important words, especially when another word besides the verb is first in the sentence. The exception to this translation order is that there are just a small number of words that are usually second (or sometimes third) in a sentence that are meant to be first when translated. One more thing to mention is that, although this does not happen in the text below, the verbs in capital letters are called HISTORICAL PRESENTS, where a verb in a past tense is expected, but a verb in the present tense is given. These have been explained elsewhere, and here again it may be helpful to read some of the other writings of this website.

What follows is what was promised, an EXTREMELY literal translation of John 6:41-71 [It could also be noted that the second paragraph has the Father first, the verb second, and subject noun third, and the “d.o.” was added to signify that the Father is the direct object in this case; and that particular order also gives emphasis to the Father]:

Therefore  they-were-grumbling,  the  Jews,  concerning  him,  because  he-said,  “I,  I-am  the  bread,  the-one  having-come-down  out-of  the  heaven,”  and  they-were-saying,  “Not  this-one  is  Jesus,  the  son  of-Joseph,  of-whom  we,  we-know  the  father  and  the  mother?  How  now  he-says  that,  ‘Out-of  the  heaven  I-have-come-down’?

He-answered,  Jesus,  and  he-said  to-them,  “Do-not  grumble  among  one-another.  No-one  is-able  to-come  toward  me  if  not  the  Father,  the-one  having-sent  me,  he-drags  him,  and-I,  I-will-raise-up  him  in  the  eschaton  day.  It-is  having-been-written  in  the  prophets:  ‘And  they-shall-be  all  taught  of-God.’  Every  the-one  having-heard  from  the  Father  and  one-having-learned,  he-comes  toward  me.  Not  that  the  Father[d.o.],  he-has-seen,  anyone,  if  not  the-one  being  from  the  God,  this-one  has-seen  the  Father.  Amen,  amen,  I-am-saying  to-you,  the-one  believing  has  life  eternal.  I,  I-am  the  bread  of-the  life.  The  fathers  of-you,  they-ate  in  the  desert  the  manna,  and  they-died;  this-one  is  the  bread,  the-one  out-of  the  heaven,  coming-down,  in-order-that  anyone,  out-of  it  he-may-eat  and  not  he-may-die.  I,  I-am  the  bread,  the  living,  the-one  out-of  the  heaven,  having-come-down.  If  anyone  eats  out-of  this,  the  bread,  he-will-live  into  the  age;  and  now  the  bread  which  I,  I-will-give,  the  flesh  of-me,  it-is,  on-behalf-of  the,  of-the  world,  life.”

Therefore  they-were-fighting  toward  one-another,  the  Jews,  saying,  “How  is-he-able,  this-one,  to-us  to-give  the  flesh  to-eat?”

Therefore  he-said  to-them,  the  Jesus,  “Amen,  amen,  I-am-saying  to-you,  if  not  you-eat  the  flesh  of-the  Son  of-the  Man  and  drink  of-him  the  blood,  not  you-have  life  in  yourselves.  The-one  munching  of-me  the  flesh  and  drinking  of-me  the  blood,  he-has  life  eternal,  and-I,  I-will-raise-up  him  in-the  eschaton  day.  For  the  flesh  of-me,  true  it-is  food,  and  the  blood  of-me,  true  it-is  drink.  The-one  munching  of-me  the  flesh  and  drinking  of-me  the  blood,  in  me  he-remains,  and-I  in  him.  Just-as  he-sent-out  me,  the  living  Father,  and-I,  I-live  on-account-of  the  Father,  and  the-one  munching  me,  and-that-one  will-live  on-account-of  me.  This  is  the  bread,  the-one  out-of  heaven,  having-come-down,  not  just-as  they-ate,  the  fathers,  and  they-died;  the-one  munching  this,  the  bread,  he-will-live  into  the  age.”

These-things  he-said  in  a-synagogue,  teaching  in  Capernaum.  Therefore  many,  having-heard  out-of  the  disciples  of-him,  they-said,  “Hard  it-is,  the  word,  this;  who  is-able  it  to-hear?”

Now  fully-knowing,  the  Jesus,  in  himself  that  they-are-grumbling  concerning  this,  the  disciples  of-him,  he-said  to-them,  “This,  you,  it-scandalizes?  Therefore  if  you-behold  the  Son  of-the  Man  going-up  where  he-was,  the  formerly?  The  Spirit  is  the-one  doing-life,  the  flesh  not  profits  no-thing;  the  sayings  which  I,  I-have-spoken  to-you,  spirit  it-is,  and  life  it-is.  But-on-the-contrary,  there-are  out-of  you,  some  who  not  they-do-believe.”  For  he-fully-knew  out-of  beginning,  the  Jesus,  who  are  the-ones  not  believing,  and  who  he-is,  the-one  betraying  him.  And  he-was-saying,  “On-account-of  this,  I-have-told  to-you  that  no-one  is-able  to-come  toward  me,  if  not  it-is  having-been-given  to-him  out-of  the  Father.”

Out-of  this,  many  out-of  of-the  disciples  of-him,  they-came-away,  into  the  behind,  and  no-longer  with  him,  they-were-walking-around.  Therefore  he-said,  the  Jesus,  to-the  twelve,  “Not  also  you,  you-want  to-go-away?”

He-answered  him,  Simon  Peter,  “Lord,  toward  whom  shall-we-come-away?  Sayings  of-life  eternal  you-have.  And  we,  we-have-believed  and  we-have-known  that  you,  you-are  the  Holy-One  of-the  God.”

He-answered  them,  the  Jesus,  “Not  I,  you,  the  twelve,  I-have-selected,  and  out-of  you,  one  a-diabolos  he-is?”  Now  he-was-speaking-of  the  Judas  of-Simon  Iscariot;  for  this-one  was-about  to-betray  him,  one  out-of  the  twelve.

This has been said many times, but it could be repeated here also. There are many, many ways in which words could be translated. And one often finds in a language that some important things have more than one word attached to them. This happened above with the verb to eat. (There are also two different words for knowing.) Since there were two different verbs for eating, one was just described as eating, but the other as “munching”. In other words, there is an audible eating. Whether or not this is polite is another matter. And it may be said that this type of eating may have added to the grumbling of the Jews. That grumbling certainly was audible. And certainly all of this may get many Christians thinking about the Lord’s Supper.
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It may be noted that Jesus, only in this Gospel account, repeats himself in a special way when he says, “Amen, amen.” It may also be noted that you find Jesus repeating himself with other points in the text above. And he does that in the other accounts as well. That is fine. Sometimes we do not get the point right away.  Amen, amen to that.