John 6:33-63

33God's bread is the one who comes down from heaven. He is the one who gives life to people in the world.’

34So they said to him, ‘Sir, please give this bread to us now and always.’

35Then Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread that gives life to people. Anyone who comes to me will never be hungry. Anyone who believes in me will never be thirsty.

36You have seen me, but still you do not believe in me. I have told you that before.

37Everyone that the Father gives to me will come to me. When anyone comes to me, I will never send that person away.

38I have not come down from heaven to do what I myself choose to do. No, my Father has sent me. I have come to do what he wants me to do.

39He has sent me. He does not want me to lose any of the people that he has given to me. Not even one of them. He wants me to raise all of them up to life on the last day.

40These are the people who will have life for ever with God: everyone who sees the Son and believes in him. I will raise them all up on the last day. That is what my Father wants.’

41Jesus had said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ When he said this, the Jewish leaders there did not like it. So they started to say bad things about Jesus.

42They said, ‘This is Jesus, the son of Joseph. We know his father and his mother. He should not say that he came down from heaven.’

43Jesus answered, ‘Stop saying these bad things about me to each other.

44The Father has sent me. Nobody can come to me unless the Father brings them to me. I will raise those people up on the last day, so that they have life for ever.

45The prophets wrote in the Bible, “God will teach all the people.” Everyone who hears the Father's message and learns from him will come to me.

46I came from God and I am the only one who has seen the Father. Nobody else has seen him.

47I tell you this: The person who believes my message has life for ever.

48I am the bread that causes you to live.

49Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, but they died.

50This bread that comes down from heaven is different. Anyone who eats this bread will not die.

51I am the bread that gives life to people. This bread came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live for ever. The bread that I will give is my own body. I will give it so that all people in the world may have life with God.’

52Then the Jewish leaders became angry and they argued with each other even more. They said, ‘This man cannot give his body to us so that we can eat it!’

53Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this: You must eat the body of the Son of Man and you must drink his blood. Unless you do those things, you do not have true life.

54Every person needs to eat my body and they need to drink my blood. If they do those things, they have life for ever with God. I will raise them up on the last day.

55My body is the true food and my blood is the true drink.

56Anyone who eats my body and drinks my blood lives in me. And I live in them.

57The Father, who has life, sent me. I live because of him. In the same way, anyone who takes me as their food will live because of me.

58This is the bread that came down from heaven. It is not like the manna that your ancestors ate. They ate it but they died. But the person who eats this bread will live for ever.’

59Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the Jewish meeting place at Capernaum.

60Many of Jesus' disciples did not like these words. They said, ‘This thing that he teaches is too difficult. Nobody can agree with it!’

61Jesus himself knew that the disciples did not like his message. He did not need anyone to tell him. He said to them, ‘This seems to make you angry.

62Think about this: The Son of Man will go up again to the place where he was before. And you will see him go up. Will you agree to that?

63It is the Spirit that gives you life. People cannot do that. The words that I have spoken to you come from the Spirit. They give you life.