New Testament in a Year

Jesus the Bread of Life

²² The next day, the crowd that had remained on the other side of the sea noticed that only one boat had been there, and no other, and that Jesus had not gotten into that boat with his disciples. Instead, his disciples had gone away by themselves. ²³ Other small boats from Tiberias arrived near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.^{[a] 24} When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into these boats and went to Capernaum to look for Jesus.

²⁵ When they had found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi,^[b] when did you get here?”

²⁶ Jesus replied to them, “Truly, I tell all of you^[c] emphatically, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were completely satisfied. ²⁷ Do not work for food that perishes but for food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal on him.”

²⁸ Then they asked him, “What must we do to perform God’s works?”

²⁹ Jesus answered them, “This is God’s work: to believe in the one whom he has sent.”

³⁰ So they asked him, “What sign are you going to do so that we may see it and believe in you? What actions are you performing? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”^[d]

³² Jesus told them, “Truly, I tell all of you^[e] emphatically, 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 The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ Then they told him, “Sir, give us this bread all the time.”

³⁵ Jesus told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never become hungry, and whoever believes in me will never become thirsty. ³⁶ I told you that you have seen me,^[f] yet you don’t believe. ³⁷ Everything the Father gives me will come to me, and I’ll never turn away the one who comes to me. ³⁸ I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything that he has given me, but should raise it to life on the last day. ⁴⁰ This is my Father’s will: That everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him to life on the last day.”

⁴¹ Then the Jewish leaders^[g] began grumbling about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

⁴² They kept saying, “This is Jesus, the son of Joseph, isn’t it, whose father and mother we know? So how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

⁴³ Jesus answered them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him to life on the last day.