John 6

6 ¹ After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. ² And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs he was performing on those who were sick. ³ Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴ Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. ⁵ When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?" ⁶ He said this to test him, for he himself already knew what he was going to do.

⁷ Philip answered him, "Bread worth two hundred days' wages would not be enough for each of them to get a little." ^a a v7 A denarius was about a day’s wage; two hundred denarii was some eight months’ pay.

⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, ⁹ "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what good is that for 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 those who were seated — and the same with the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² When they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments, so that nothing is wasted." ¹³ So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with the fragments from the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. ¹⁴ When the people saw the sign he had performed, they began to say, "This really is the Prophet who is to come into the world!" ¹⁵ Knowing then that they were about to come and seize him to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountainside by himself.

Into the Storm

¹⁶ When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, ¹⁷ got into a boat, and set out across the sea to Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had still not come to them. ¹⁸ A strong wind was blowing, and the sea grew rough. ¹⁹ When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. ²⁰ But he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." ²¹ Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

²² The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not gotten into it with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. ²³ Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴ So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. ²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"

²⁶ Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I tell you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. ²⁷ Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him our Father has set his seal.

²⁸ Then they said to him, "What must we do to be doing the works of our Father?"

²⁹ Jesus answered them, "This is the work of our Father: that you believe in the one he has sent."

³⁰ So they said to him, "Then what sign will you perform, that we may see and believe you? What work will you do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

³² Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of our Father is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

³⁴ So they said to him, "Lord, give us this bread always."

³⁵ Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But as I told you, you have seen me and still do not believe. ³⁷ All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never drive 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 none of all he has given me, but raise them up on the last day. ⁴⁰ For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day."

⁴¹ At this the Jews began to grumble 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, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"

⁴³ Jesus answered them, "Stop grumbling among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. ^b b v44 Coming to Jesus is our Father's initiative — he draws his children toward the Son with love that pursues, not power that compels. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets: 'And they will all be taught by our Father.' Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me ⁴⁶ —Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from him; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

⁵² Then the Jews argued sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

⁵³ So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven. It is not like the bread your ancestors ate and still died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever."

⁵⁹ He said these things while teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. ⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"

When Many Turn Back

⁶¹ Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? ⁶² Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? ⁶³ The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴ Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. ⁶⁵ He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."

⁶⁶ From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

⁶⁷ So Jesus asked the Twelve, "Do you want to leave too?"

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, ⁶⁹ and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of our Father." ^c c v69 Here "of God" names the Father — Jesus is the Holy One who belongs to and comes from our Father, the title Peter confesses in place of the disciples who walked away.

⁷⁰ Jesus answered them, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil." ⁷¹ He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for Judas, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.