The Parable of the Great Dinner

¹⁵ One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”^(A)

⁹ And the angel said^[a] to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”^(A)

³⁰ so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.^(A)

²⁹ Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and take their places at the banquet in the kingdom of God.

²⁷ Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”^{(A) 28} Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”^{(B) 30} So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us, then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?^{(C) 31} Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”^{(D) 32} Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is that which^[a] comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”^{(E) 34} They said to him, “Sir,^[b] give us this bread always.”^(F)

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.^{(G) 36} But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.^{(H) 37} Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away,^{(I) 38} for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.^{(J) 39} And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day.^{(K) 40} This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.”^(L)

⁴¹ Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”^{(M) 43} Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day.^{(N) 45} It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.^{(O) 46} Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.^{(P) 47} Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.^{(Q) 48} I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”^(R)

⁵² The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”^{(S) 53} So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.^{(T) 54} Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day,^{(U) 55} for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.^{(V) 57} Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ He said these things while he was teaching in a synagogue at Capernaum.

¹⁰ And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.^(A)

³⁷ Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them.^(A)

¹¹ I tell you, many will come from east and west and will take their places at the banquet with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,^(A)