John 6:51-57

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

⁵¹I am the living bread^[a] which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

⁵²The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”^[b] ⁵³So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; ⁵⁴he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁵⁵For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. ⁵⁶He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

6.51 Jesus is the “living bread” both as Word of God (verses 32ff) and as sacrificial victim for the salvation of man.
6.52 A natural question to ask. Jesus answers, not by explaining it away, but by re-emphasizing the reality, though not, of course, in the crude sense implied in their question.

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.