The Gospel According to St. John

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- Chapter 6 -

(Matthew 14:13–21; Mark 6:30–44; Luke 9:10–17)

Jesus went across the lake to the other side. The name of the lake was the “Sea of Galilee” to some people; other people called it the “Sea of Tiberias.”

A large crowd followed him because they had seen the wonders he had done in healing people who were very sick.

Jesus went up on a steep hillside and sat down with his disciples.

Now it was the time of the year for the Passover Festival, a special celebration of the Jews.

Jesus looked up and saw that there was a very large crowd of people making their way toward him. Jesus said to Philip, “Where will we buy bread so that all these people can have something to eat?”

He asked Philip this question to test him, to see what sort of answer he would give. However, Jesus already knew what he was going to do about this problem.

Philip replied to him, “If we had the money that a man can earn in two hundred days of work, it would not be enough money to buy bread to give each person in this big crowd even a little piece to eat.”

Another one of his disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter’s brother, said to Jesus,

“There is a boy here who has five little barley loaves of bread and two small fish. Yet, how could so little food feed so many people?”

The place where the people were all coming together had a lot of grass. So Jesus said, “Tell the people to sit down.” So all of the people sat down, and after the disciples counted the crowd, they found that there were about five thousand people.

Then Jesus took the small loaves of bread and the fish, and he thanked God for them. Then he passed the bread and the fish among all who were sitting on the ground. The people ate all the fish and bread they wanted.

When everyone had finished eating, he said to the disciples, “Gather up all the pieces of barley bread that the people did not eat. Do not let anything go to waste.”

So they gathered up the pieces from the five barley loaves, and they filled twelve large baskets full from what was left over.

After the people saw the miracle that Jesus had performed in front of them, they said, “Surely he is the Prophet that God has been going to send into the world!”

Jesus knew what the people were planning; they were about to come and force him to be their king. So he left them and went up the mountain to be by himself.

Jesus Walks on Water

(Matthew 14:22–33; Mark 6:45–52)

When it was evening, his disciples went down to the Sea of Galilee,

got into a boat, and started to sail across the sea to the city of Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus was not with them.

A strong wind started to blow, and the waves on the sea became very rough.

After they had rowed five or six kilometers, the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water and coming near the boat. They were terrified!

Jesus said to them, “It is I! Do not be afraid!”

They were very glad to take him into the boat. As soon as he was with them, their boat arrived at the place where they were going.

Jesus the Bread of Life

The next day the crowd of people that had stayed on the other side of the lake realized that there had been only one boat there the day before. They also knew that Jesus had not gone in the boat with his disciples.

Some men came across the lake from the city of Tiberias in other boats they had. They put their boats near the place where the people had eaten the bread, that bread for which the Lord had given thanks to God.

When the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, some of them got into those boats and sailed to Capernaum to find Jesus.

They searched and found Jesus in Capernaum on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. They asked him, “Teacher, when did you come here?”

Jesus replied to them, “I am telling you the truth: You are not looking for me because you saw me perform miracles that show who I am. No! You are looking for me only because you ate until you were full of the loaves of bread.

Stop working for food that will soon spoil! Instead, work for the food that will bring you everlasting life! That is the bread that I, the Son of Man, God’s chosen one, will give you. For God the Father approves of me in every way.”

Then the people asked him, “What works and service should we do to please God?”

Jesus replied, “What God wants you to do is this: Trust in me, the one he has sent.”

So they said to him, “Then perform another miracle to prove who you are so that we can see it and believe that you came from God. What will you do for us?

Our ancestors ate manna, just as the scriptures say: ‘He gave them bread out of the heavens to eat.’”

Jesus said to them, “I am telling you the truth: It was not Moses who gave your ancestors that bread from heaven. No, it was my Father, the same one who is giving you the true bread from heaven.

The true bread of God is I, the one who has come down from heaven in order to make everyone in the world truly able to live.”

They said to him, “Sir, always give us this bread.”

Jesus said to them, “Just as people need food to live, everyone needs me to live spiritually. Those who take ordinary food and water will become hungry and thirsty again. But for those who ask me and trust me to enable them to live spiritually, I will do this for them.

Nevertheless, I have told you that, although you see me, you still do not trust me.

All the people my Father gives to me will come to me, and I will never drive away anyone who comes to me.

I came down from heaven not to do what I want, but to do the will of him who sent me.

This is what the one who sent me wants, that I lose none of those whom he has given me, and that I raise all of them up on the last day.

For this is what my Father wants, that everyone who looks in faith on me, the Son, and who trust in me, will have everlasting life. I will raise them up on the last day.”

The Jewish leaders began to grumble about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread who came down from heaven.”

They said, “Is this not Jesus, whose father is Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? How can he say with any truth, ‘I have come from heaven’?”

Jesus answered them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him to me. The one who comes to me, I will raise him up on the last day.

It is written in the Prophets, ‘God will teach them all.’ Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me.

No one has seen the Father except me, the one who comes from God. I alone have seen the Father.

I am telling you the truth: Whoever trusts in me has everlasting life.

I am the bread that gives true life.

Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, but they still died.

However, the bread that I am speaking of is the bread that comes down from heaven, and the one who eats it will never die.

I am the bread that makes people truly live, the bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I give for the life of the world is the death of my physical body.”

The Jews who had listened to Jesus were now angrily arguing among themselves. They could not understand how anyone could promise that others would eat his own body.

So Jesus confronted them with difficult words: “I am telling you the truth: Unless you eat the flesh of me, the Son of Man, and drink my blood, you will never live forever.

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood will live forever, and I will make them alive again at the last day

because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will be joined to me, and I will be joined to him.

My Father, who makes everyone alive, has sent me, and I live because my Father has made me able to. In the same way, those who feed on me will live forever because of what I will do for them.

I am the true bread that comes down from heaven. Anyone who eats me, this bread, will never die, but will live forever! What I do is not like what happened to your ancestors because they ate the manna and then died.”

Many Disciples Turn Back

(Matthew 8:18–22; Luke 9:57–62; Luke 14:25–33)

Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in the city of Capernaum.

Many of his disciples said, “What he is teaching is hard to understand. How can anyone accept what he is saying?”

Jesus was aware that some of his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does what I teach offend you?

What would you say if you saw me, the Son of Man, go back up to heaven?

Only the Spirit gives life that can make anyone live forever. The human nature is no help in this matter. The words I have taught you tell you about the Spirit, and they tell you about eternal life.

Yet there are some of you who do not trust what I am teaching you.” Jesus said this because he knew from the start of his work who it was who would not trust in him, and he knew the person who would betray him.

Then he said, “That is why I told you that no one can come to me and to live forever unless the Father makes him able to come to me.”

From that time on, many of Jesus’ disciples turned back from following him.

Peter’s Confession of Faith

(Matthew 16:13–20; Mark 8:27–30; Luke 9:18–20)

So he said to the twelve, “You also do not want to leave me, do you?”

Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? Only you have the message that allows us to live forever!

We trust in you, and we know for certain that you are the Holy One whom God has sent!”

Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve disciples? Yet one of you is a devil!”

He was talking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Even though Judas was one of the twelve, he was also the one who would later betray Jesus.

(Matthew 14:13–21; Mark 6:30–44; Luke 9:10–17)

After these things, Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee, which is also called the Sea of Tiberias.

A great multitude followed him, because they saw his signs which he did on those who were sick.

Jesus went up into the mountain, and he sat there with his disciples.

Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

Jesus therefore, lifting up his eyes and seeing that a great multitude was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?”

He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.

Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii (a) worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may receive a little.”

One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him,

“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these among so many?”

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in that place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

Jesus took the loaves, and having given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were sitting down, likewise also of the fish as much as they desired.

When they were filled, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the broken pieces which are left over, that nothing be lost.”

So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten.

When therefore the people saw the sign which Jesus did, they said, “This is truly the prophet who comes into the world.”

Jesus therefore, perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Jesus Walks on Water

(Matthew 14:22–33; Mark 6:45–52)

When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea.

They entered into the boat, and were going over the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not come to them.

The sea was tossed by a great wind blowing.

When therefore they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia,(b) they saw Jesus walking on the sea

(c)

and drawing near to the boat; and they were afraid.

But he said to them, “It is I. (d) Don’t be afraid.”

They were willing therefore to receive him into the boat. Immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.

Jesus the Bread of Life

On the next day, the multitude that stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except the one in which his disciples had embarked, and that Jesus hadn’t entered with his disciples into the boat, but his disciples had gone away alone.

However, boats from Tiberias came near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

When the multitude therefore saw that Jesus wasn’t there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”

Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him.”

They said therefore to him, “What must we do, that we may work the works of God?”

Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

They said therefore to him, “What then do you do for a sign, that we may see and believe you? What work do you do?

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven

(e)

to eat.’”(f)

Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, it wasn’t Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread out of heaven.

For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.”

They said therefore to him, “Lord, 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 those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out.

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day.

This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

The Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, “I am the bread which came down out of heaven.”

They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?”

Therefore Jesus answered them, “Don’t murmur among yourselves.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up in the last day.

It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ (g) Therefore everyone who hears from the Father and has learned, comes to me.

Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father.

Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life.

I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died.

This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of 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.”

The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

Jesus therefore 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 fathers ate the manna and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

Many Disciples Turn Back

(Matthew 8:18–22; Luke 9:57–62; Luke 14:25–33)

He said these things in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.

Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying! Who can listen to it?”

But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble?

Then what if you would see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.

But there are some of you who don’t believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who didn’t believe, and who it was who would betray him.

He said, “For this cause I have said to you that no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father.”

At this, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.

Peter’s Confession of Faith

(Matthew 16:13–20; Mark 8:27–30; Luke 9:18–20)

Jesus said therefore to the twelve, “You don’t also want to go away, do you?”

Simon Peter 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 Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?”

Now he spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for it was he who would betray him, being one of the twelve.

Footnotes

(a)6:7 A denarius was a silver coin worth about a day’s wages for an agricultural laborer, so 200 denarii would be between 6 and 7 month’s pay.

(b)6:19 25 to 30 stadia is about 5 to 6 kilometers or about 3 to 4 miles

(d)6:20 or, I AM

(e)6:31 Greek and Hebrew use the same word for “heaven”, “the heavens”, “the sky”, and “the air”.

(f)6:31 ℘ Exodus 16:4; Nehemiah 9:15; Psalms 78:24-25

(g)6:45 ℘ Isaiah 54:13