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 at the last day…The Jews then murmured at
him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. They
said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we
know? How does he now say, I have come down from heaven? Jesus
answered them, Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me
unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the
last day … I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the
wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from
heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread 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. The
Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, How can this man give us
his flesh to eat? So 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;
he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise
him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink
indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in
him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he
who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down
from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread
will live for ever. This he said in the synagogue, as he taught at
Capernaum. Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, This is a hard
saying; who can listen to it? But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples
murmured at it, said to them, Do you take offense at this? Then what if you
were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before? It is the spirit
that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you
are spirit and life. But there are some of you that do not believe. For Jesus
knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that
would betray him. And he said, This is why I told you that no one can come
to me unless it is granted him by the Father. After this many of his disciples
drew back and no longer went about with him. Jesus said to the twelve, Do
you also wish to go away? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall
we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have
come to know, that you are the Holy One of God. Jesus answered them, Did
I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spoke of Judas
the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was to betray him” (vv.
35-71).
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