John 6

₁Jesus went to the other side of Lake Galilee. The other name of the lake was Lake Tiberias. ₂A lot of people went with Jesus because they saw the miracles that He did when He healed the sick people. ₃Jesus went up a hill and He sat on the ground with his disciples. ₄It was just before the time of the Jewish Passover. ₅When Jesus saw all the people who came to Him, He asked Philip: ‘Where can we get enough bread to give to all these people?’

₆Jesus said this because He wanted to see what Philip would do, but Jesus already knew what He was going to do. ₇Philip said to Jesus: ‘If we want to give each person just a small piece of bread, we will need more than 200 silver_coins to buy the bread.’

₈One of the disciples, Simon-Peter's brother, Andrew, said to Jesus: ₉‘Here is a boy with 5 loaves of barley bread and 2 fish, but this is too little for so many people.’

₁₀Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Tell the people to sit down.’ There was lots of grass for the people to sit on. There were many people. The men were about 5 000. ₁₁Then Jesus took the bread. He prayed and thanked God for the bread and He gave it to the people who were sitting there. He also gave them fish to eat. There was a lot of food and everyone had enough to eat. ₁₂When all the people had had enough food to eat, Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You must pick up all the food that the people did not eat. We must not waste any food.’

₁₃The disciples picked up all the pieces of food. There were 12 baskets full after the people had eaten of the 5 loaves of barley bread. ₁₄The people saw that Jesus had done a miracle and they said: ‘Now we know that He is the Prophet whom we are waiting for to come to the world.’

₁₅The people wanted to grab Jesus and make Him King. But when Jesus saw this, He went away and went up the mountain to be alone.

₁₆That evening Jesus' disciples were on a boat on the lake. ₁₇They wanted to go over the lake to the town of Capernaum. It was dark and Jesus had not come to them. ₁₈A very strong wind was blowing and the waves on the lake were big. ₁₉The disciples had rowed the boat for about 25 or 30 stadioi when they saw Jesus. He was walking on the water and He came to the boat. The disciples were afraid ₂₀but Jesus said to them: ‘Don't be afraid. It is I.’

₂₁The disciples asked Jesus to get into the boat, and then immediately the boat was at Capernaum, at the land where they wanted to go.

₂₂The next day the people on the other side of the lake saw that there was only one boat. They knew Jesus had not gone with his disciples in their boat. The disciples had gone away on their own. ₂₃There were other boats from Tiberias that came to the place where the people ate the bread after the Lord Jesus had prayed to God and thanked Him. ₂₄When the people saw that Jesus and his disciples were not there, they got into their boats and went to the town of Capernaum looking for Jesus.

₂₅The people saw Jesus in the town of Capernaum and they asked Him: ‘Rabbi, when did You come here?’ ₂₆Jesus told them: ‘I tell you this and it is sure: You are looking for Me, not because you saw the miracles and signs that I have done, but because you ate enough food and now you want more food. ₂₇You must not work just to get the food of this world that gets old and goes bad. You must do everything to get the food that never goes bad and gives eternal_life. I, the Son of man, will give you this food of life. I can do it, because God the Father told Me to do it.’

₂₈Then the people asked Jesus: ‘What must we do? What does God want us to do?’ ₂₉Jesus said to them: ‘If you want to do what God wants, then you must believe in Me, because God has sent Me to the world.’

₃₀Then the people asked Jesus: ‘What sign can You show us so that we can see and believe in You? What will You do? ₃₁When our forefathers were in the desert, God gave them manna to eat. In the Old_Testament it is written:

₃₂Jesus said to them: ‘I tell you this and it is sure: You think that it was Moses who gave you the bread that came from heaven. No, it is my Father who gives you bread, real bread from heaven that He gives you now. ₃₃The bread that God gives is the One who comes from heaven to give people of the world the real_life.’

₃₄The people asked Jesus: ‘Teacher, give us some of this bread now and forever.’ ₃₅Jesus said to them: ‘I am the bread that gives life. Everyone who comes to Me will never be spiritually_hungry. Everyone who believes in Me will never be spiritually_thirsty. ₃₆I have told you: You see what I do, but you do not believe in Me. ₃₇Everyone that the Father gives to Me will come to Me, and I will never say no to someone who comes to Me. I will never send him away.

₃₈I came from heaven, not to do what I want to do, but to do what the Father wants Me to do, because it is the Father who has sent Me. ₃₉What does the Father want? He does not want Me to lose one of the people that He gave to Me. He wants Me to save them so that they will have eternal_life on the last day. ₄₀My Father wants everyone to look at Me and to believe in Me, the Son, and have eternal_life. And on the last day I will make them all come alive, forever.’

₄₁When Jesus said that He was the bread from heaven, the Jews were very unhappy and they started to complain about Jesus. ₄₂They said to each other: ‘Jesus is the son of Joseph. We know his father and mother. He lies when He says that He comes from heaven.’

₄₃Jesus said to them: ‘Don't complain about what I said. ₄₄My Father has sent Me to the world. No one can come to Me if the Father does not bring that person to Me, and I will give life to that person on the last day. ₄₅One of the prophets in the Old_Testament wrote:

This means that everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him will come to Me. ₄₆This does not mean that someone else also saw the Father. I am the only One who has seen the Father because I come from God. ₄₇I tell you this and it is sure: Any person who believes in Me will live forever.

₄₈I am the bread that gives eternal_life. ₄₉Your fathers had manna to eat in the desert, but later they all died. ₅₀But the real bread that comes from heaven is different. Everyone who eats this bread will never die. ₅₁I am the bread who lives and comes from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I give is my body. I give it to all the people of the world so that they can live forever.’

₅₂When the Jews heard this, they started to argue and said: ‘How can He give us his body to eat?’ ₅₃Jesus said to them: ‘I tell you this and it is sure: I am the Son of man. If you do not eat the body of the Son of man and drink his blood, then you will not have eternal_life. ₅₄Every person who eats my body and drinks my blood will have eternal_life, and I will make him stand up and live on the last day. ₅₅My body and my blood is real food. ₅₆Someone who eats my body and drinks my blood must know that I live in him and he lives in Me.

₅₇The Father lives, He has sent Me and I live because He gave Me life. It is the same for people who eat my body. I give them eternal_life. ₅₈The real bread that comes down from heaven is not the same as the manna that your fathers ate in the desert. Those people did not live forever. They died. But everyone who eats this real bread from heaven will live forever.’

₅₉Jesus was in the synagogue in Capernaum when He talked about the bread from heaven.

₆₀A lot of the followers of Jesus heard what He said about the bread from heaven and they said: ‘The things that Jesus says are too difficult to understand. We do not want to listen to this.’

₆₁Jesus knew that his disciples were complaining. He asked them: ‘Don't you want to listen to these things that I say? ₆₂What will you say when you see Me, the Son of man, go back to heaven where I was before? ₆₃It is the Holy_Spirit who gives eternal_life to people. You can not do it yourselves or decide to start to live. When I speak to you, the Spirit comes to you and He gives you eternal_life. ₆₄But some of you do not want to believe in Me.’

Jesus knew from the beginning who would not believe in Him. He also knew from the beginning who the one was who would betray Him. ₆₅Then Jesus said: ‘This is why I told you that no person can come to Me if the Father does not bring him to Me.’

₆₆After this a lot of people who had followed Jesus stopped following Him. They did not want to go with Him anymore. ₆₇Then Jesus asked his 12 disciples: ‘And you? Do you also want to go away?’

₆₈Simon-Peter said to Jesus: ‘No, Lord, there is no one to whom we can go. The things that You say give eternal_life. ₆₉We believe and know that You are the holy One who came from God.’

₇₀Jesus said to them: ‘I have chosen 12 of you to be my disciples, but one of you is a devil.’ ₇₁Jesus was talking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. (Judas was one of the disciples of Jesus but later he betrayed Jesus).