The People Seek Jesus

²² Next day the crowd which had stayed on the other side of the lake realized that there had been only one boat there. They knew that Jesus had not gone in it with his disciples, but that they had left without him. ²³ Other boats, which were from Tiberias, came to shore near the place where the crowd had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴ When the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they got into those boats and went to Capernaum, looking for him.

Jesus the Bread of Life

²⁵ When the people found Jesus on the other side of the lake, they said to him, “Teacher, when did you get here?”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “I am telling you the truth: you are looking for me because you ate the bread and had all you wanted, not because you understood my miracles. ^27 (A)Do not work for food that spoils; instead, work for the food that lasts for eternal life. This is the food which the Son of Man will give you, because God, the Father, has put his mark of approval on him.”

²⁸ So they asked him, “What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “What God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent.”

³⁰ They replied, “What miracle will you perform so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ^31 (B)Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, just as the scripture says, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

³² “I am telling you the truth,” Jesus said. “What Moses gave you was not^[a] the bread from heaven; it is my Father who gives you the real bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread that God gives is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ “Sir,” they asked him, “give us this bread always.”

³⁵ “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ Now, I told you that you have seen me but will not believe. ³⁷ Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me, ³⁸ because I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And it is the will of him who sent me that I should not lose any of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them all to life on the last day. ⁴⁰ For what my Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life. And I will raise them to life on the last day.”