Jesus Is the Bread of Life
25 They found him on the other side of the lake. They asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"
26
Jesus answered, "What I'm about to tell you is true. You are not looking for me because you saw miraculous signs. You are looking for me because you ate the loaves until you were full.
27
Do not work for food that spoils. Work for food that lasts forever. That is the food the Son of Man will give you. God the Father has put his seal of approval on him."
28
Then they asked him, "What does God want from us? What works does he want us to do?"
29
Jesus answered, "God's work is to believe in the One he has sent."
30
So they asked him, "What miraculous sign will you give us? What will you do so we can see it and believe you?
31
Long ago our people ate the manna in the desert. It is written in Scripture, 'The Lord gave them bread from heaven to eat.' "(Exodus 16:4; Nehemiah 9:15; Psalm 78:24,25)
32
Jesus said to them, "What I'm about to tell you is true. It is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven. It is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
33
The bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven. He gives life to the world."
34
"Sir," they said, "give us this bread from now on."
35
Then Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever go hungry. And no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty.
36
"But it is just as I told you. You have seen me, and you still do not believe.
37
Everyone the Father gives me will come to me. I will never send away anyone who comes to me.
38
"I have not come down from heaven to do what I want to do. I have come to do what the One who sent me wants me to do.
39
The One who sent me doesn't want me to lose anyone he has given me. He wants me to raise them up on the last day.
40
My Father wants all who look to the Son and believe in him to have eternal life. I will raise them up on the last day."
41
Then the Jews began to complain about Jesus. That was because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."
42
They said, "Isn't this Jesus, the son of Joseph? Don't we know his father and mother? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"
43
"Stop complaining among yourselves," Jesus answered.
44
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me brings him. Then I will raise him up on the last day.
45
"It is written in the Prophets, 'God will teach all of them.'(Isaiah 54:13) Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.
46
"No one has seen the Father except the One who has come from God. Only he has seen the Father.
47
What I'm about to tell you is true. Everyone who believes has life forever.
48
"I am the bread of life.
49
Long ago your people ate the manna in the desert, and they still died.
50
But here is the bread that comes down from heaven. A person can eat it and not die.
51
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Everyone who eats some of this bread will live forever. The bread is my body. I will give it for the life of the world."
52
Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves. They said, "How can this man give us his body to eat?"
53
Jesus said to them, "What I'm about to tell you is true. You must eat the Son of Man's body and drink his blood. If you don't, you have no life in you.
54
Anyone who eats my body and drinks my blood has eternal life. I will raise him up on the last day.
55
"My body is real food. My blood is real drink.
56
Anyone who eats my body and drinks my blood remains in me. And I remain in him.
57
"The living Father sent me, and I live because of him. In the same way, those who feed on me will live because of me.
58
This is the bread that came down from heaven. Long ago your people ate manna and died. But those who feed on this bread will live forever."
59
He said this while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.