Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 422
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IMMERSE
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MESSIAH
6:41-67
Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because he had said,
“I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Isn’t this Jesus,
the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came
down from heaven’?”
But Jesus replied, “Stop complaining about what I said. For no one can
come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the
last day I will raise them up. As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They will
all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from
him comes to me. (Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who
was sent from God, have seen him.)
“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. Yes, I am the
bread of life! Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died.
Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. I am the
living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread
will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live,
is my flesh.”
Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant.
“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.
So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you.
But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and
I will raise that person at the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my
blood is true drink. Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. I live because of the living Father who sent me;
in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. I am the
true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will
not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will
live forever.”
He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in
Capernaum.
Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can
anyone accept it?”
Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them,
“Does this offend you? Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man
ascend to heaven again? The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort
accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit
and life. But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the
beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.)
Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the
Father gives them to me.”
At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then
Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”
