John
6
- Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the
far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias),
- and a great crowd of people followed him
because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.
- Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and
sat down with his disciples.
- The Jewish Passover Feast was near.
- When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd
coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these
people to eat?"
- He asked this only to test him, for he already
had in mind what he was going to do.
- Philip answered him, "Eight months'
wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
- Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon
Peter's brother, spoke up,
- "Here is a boy with five small barley
loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"
- Jesus said, "Have the people sit down."
There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five
thousand of them.
- Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks,
and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the
same with the fish.
- When they had all had enough to eat, he
said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing
be wasted."
- So they gathered them and filled twelve
baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had
eaten.
- After the people saw the miraculous sign
that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is
to come into the world."
- Jesus, knowing that they intended to come
and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.
- When evening came, his disciples went down
to the lake,
- where they got into a boat and set off across
the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them.
- A strong wind was blowing and the waters
grew rough.
- When they had rowed three or three and a
half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and
they were terrified.
- But he said to them, "It is I; don't
be afraid."
- Then they were willing to take him into
the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.
- The next day the crowd that had stayed on
the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there,
and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone
away alone.
- Then some boats from Tiberias landed near
the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
- Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus
nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum
in search of Jesus.
- When they found him on the other side of
the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"
- Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth,
you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you
ate the loaves and had your fill.
- Do not work for food that spoils, but for
food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On
him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."
- Then they asked him, "What must we
do to do the works God requires?"
- Jesus answered, "The work of God is
this: to believe in the one he has sent."
- So they asked him, "What miraculous
sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you
do?
- Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert;
as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"
- Jesus said to them, "I tell you the
truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is
my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
- For the bread of God is he who comes down
from heaven and gives life to the world."
- "Sir," they said, "from now
on give us this bread."
- Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread
of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me
will never be thirsty.
- But as I told you, you have seen me and
still you do not believe.
- All that the Father gives me will come to
me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
- For I have come down from heaven not to
do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
- And this is the will of him who sent me,
that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the
last day.
- For my Father's will is that everyone who
looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise
him up at the last day."
- At this the Jews began to grumble about
him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."
- They said, "Is this not Jesus, the
son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came
down from heaven'?"
- "Stop grumbling among yourselves,"
Jesus answered.
- "No one can come to me unless the Father
who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at 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, he who believes has
everlasting life.
- I am the bread of life.
- Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert,
yet they died.
- But here is the bread that comes down from
heaven, which a man may eat and not die.
- I am the living bread that came down from
heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is
my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
- Then the Jews began to argue sharply among
themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
- Jesus said to them, "I tell you the
truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you
have no life in you.
- Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
- For my flesh is real food and my blood is
real drink.
- Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me, and I in him.
- 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.
- This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live
forever."
- He said this while teaching in the synagogue
in Capernaum.
- On hearing it, many of his disciples said,
"This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
- Aware that his disciples were grumbling
about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you?
- What if you see the Son of Man ascend to
where he was before!
- The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts
for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
- 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.
- He went on to say, "This is why I told
you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."
- From this time many of his disciples turned
back and no longer followed him.
- "You do not want to leave too, do you?"
Jesus asked the Twelve.
- Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to
whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
- We believe and know that you are the Holy
One of God."
- Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen
you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!"
- (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot,
who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)
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