John 6:1-71

After this, Jesus went across Lake Galilee (or, Lake Tiberias). Many people followed him because they saw the miracles he did to heal the sick. Jesus went up on a hill and sat down there with his followers. It was almost the time for the Jewish Passover Feast. When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough bread for all these people to eat?” (Jesus asked Philip this question to test him, because Jesus already knew what he planned to do.) Philip answered, “Someone would have to work almost a year to buy enough bread for each person to have only a little piece.” Another one of his followers, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, “Here is a boy with five loaves of barley bread and two little fish, but that is not enough for so many people.” Jesus said, “Tell the people to sit down.” There was plenty of grass there, and about five thousand men sat down there. Then Jesus took the loaves of bread, thanked God for them, and gave them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, giving as much as the people wanted. When they had all had enough to eat, Jesus said to his followers, “Gather the leftover pieces of fish and bread so that nothing is wasted.” So they gathered up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left from the five barley loaves. When the people saw this miracle that Jesus did, they said, “He must truly be the Prophet who is coming into the world.” Jesus knew that the people planned to come and take him by force and make him their king, so he left and went into the hills alone. That evening Jesus’ followers went down to Lake Galilee. It was dark now, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The followers got into a boat and started across the lake to Capernaum. By now a strong wind was blowing, and the waves on the lake were getting bigger. When they had rowed the boat about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the water, coming toward the boat. The followers were afraid, but Jesus said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” Then they were glad to take him into the boat. At once the boat came to land at the place where they wanted to go. The next day the people who had stayed on the other side of the lake knew that Jesus had not gone in the boat with his followers but that they had left without him. And they knew that only one boat had been there. But then some boats came from Tiberias and landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. When the people saw that Jesus and his followers were not there now, they got into boats and went to Capernaum to find Jesus. When the people found Jesus on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Teacher, when did you come here?” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you aren’t looking for me because you saw me do miracles. You are looking for me because you ate the bread and were satisfied. Don’t work for the food that spoils. Work for the food that stays good always and gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give you this food, because on him God the Father has put his power.” The people asked Jesus, “What are the things God wants us to do?” Jesus answered, “The work God wants you to do is this: Believe the One he sent.” So the people asked, “What miracle will you do? If we see a miracle, we will believe you. What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the desert. This is written in the Scriptures: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven; it is my Father who is giving you the true bread from heaven. God’s bread is the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” The people said, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Then Jesus said, “I am the bread that gives life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you before, you have seen me and still don’t believe. The Father gives me the people who are mine. Every one of them will come to me, and I will always accept them. I came down from heaven to do what God wants me to do, not what I want to do. Here is what the One who sent me wants me to do: I must not lose even one whom God gave me, but I must raise them all on the last day. Those who see the Son and believe in him have eternal life, and I will raise them on the last day. This is what my Father wants.” Some people began to complain about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that comes down from heaven.” They said, “This is Jesus, the son of Joseph. We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” But Jesus answered, “Stop complaining to each other. The Father is the One who sent me. No one can come to me unless the Father draws him to me, and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the One who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread that gives life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but still they died. Here is the bread that comes down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will never die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give up so that the world may have life.” Then the evil people began to argue among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, you must eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood. Otherwise, you won’t have real life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day. My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. The living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father. So whoever eats me will live because of me. I am not like the bread your ancestors ate. They ate that bread and still died. I am the bread that came down from heaven, and whoever eats this bread will live forever.” Jesus said all these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. When the followers of Jesus heard this, many of them said, “This teaching is hard. Who can accept it?” Knowing that his followers were complaining about this, Jesus said, “Does this teaching bother you? Then will it also bother you to see the Son of Man going back to the place where he came from? It is the Spirit that gives life. The flesh doesn’t give life. The words I told you are spirit, and they give life. But some of you don’t believe.” (Jesus knew from the beginning who did not believe and who would turn against him.) Jesus said, “That is the reason I said, ‘If the Father does not bring a person to me, that one cannot come.’ ” After Jesus said this, many of his followers left him and stopped following him. Jesus asked the twelve followers, “Do you want to leave, too?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, who would we go to? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One from God.” Then Jesus answered, “I chose all twelve of you, but one of you is a devil.” Jesus was talking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Judas was one of the twelve, but later he was going to turn against Jesus.

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