Jesus · c. AD 29
Chapter 30
The Bread of Life
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
The next day, the crowd was still on the other side of the sea. They saw that only one boat had been there, the one ’ had set out in, and that Jesus hadn’t gone into it with them. His disciples had gone away alone.
But some boats from came in near the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks. The crowd saw that Jesus wasn’t there, and his disciples weren’t either, so they got into the boats themselves and went to to look for Jesus.
They found him on the other side of the sea. “,” they asked him, “when did you get here?”
Jesus answered them, “I tell you for certain, you’re looking for me, but not because you saw . It’s because you ate the loaves until you were full. Don’t work for food that goes bad. Work for the food that lasts to eternal life. The will give it to you, because God the Father has put his on him.”
So they asked him, “What must we do, then, to do the works of God?”
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God: that you believe in him, the one God has sent.”
They said to him, “What sign will you do, then, so we can see it and believe you? What work will you do? In the wilderness our ancestors ate . As it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’”
Jesus said to them, “I tell you for certain, it wasn’t who gave you the bread out of heaven. My Father is the one who gives you the true bread out of heaven. The bread of God is what comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.”
“Lord,” they said to him, “always give us this bread.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
“But I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe. All the ones the Father gives me will come to me. If anyone comes to me, I will never throw him out.
“I have come down from heaven, not to do what I want, but to do what the one who sent me wants. This is what my Father who sent me wants: that I should lose none of all he has given me, but should raise him up at the last day. This is what the one who sent me wants: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Then the Jews grumbled about him for saying, “I am the bread which came down out of heaven.”
“Isn’t this Jesus, the son of ?” they said. “We know who his father and mother are. So how can he say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”
Jesus answered them, “Don’t grumble to one another. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And on the last day I will raise him up.
“It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ So everyone who hears from the Father and has learned comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father. Only the one who is from God has seen the Father.
“I tell you for certain, whoever believes in me has eternal life. I am the bread of life. In the wilderness your ancestors ate manna, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that anyone may eat it and not die.
“I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
So the Jews argued with one another and said, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
“He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will also live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven—not as our ancestors ate the manna and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
He said all this in the , while he was teaching in Capernaum.
When they heard this, many of his disciples said, “These are hard words! Who can listen to them?”
Jesus knew in himself that his disciples were grumbling at this. He asked them, “Does this make you stumble? Then what if you saw the Son of Man going up to where he was before? It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh does no good at all. The words I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
“But there are some of you who don’t believe.” Jesus knew from the start who didn’t believe, and who was going to betray him.
He said, “That is why I said to you that no one can come to me unless my Father gives it to him.”
At this, many of his disciples went back. They no longer walked with him.
“You don’t want to go away too, do you?” Jesus asked the twelve.
answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the , the Son of the living God.”
Jesus answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve? But one of you is a devil.”
Jesus was speaking about , the son of Simon Iscariot, because it was Judas, one of the twelve, who would betray him.