Part 2
JESUS THE BREAD OF LIFE -- Nourishment for eternal life.

The gospel of St. John: chapter 4, verse 27

" . . .I am telling you the truth . .Do not work for food that goes bad; instead, work for the food that lasts for eternal life. This is the food which the Son of Man will give you . ." The people asked Jesus "What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?" Jesus answered, "What God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent. "

The people wanted Jesus to work a miracle for them. They remarked that God had given their ancestors manna to eat when they were in the desert: "He gave them bread from heaven to eat?" they said. Jesus said "I am telling you the truth.What Moses gave you was NOT the bread from heaven; it is my Father who gives you the real bread from heaven." "Sir," the people asked him," give us this bread always"

I am the Bread of Life

Jesus told them, " I am the bread of life. Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty . ." The people started grumbling about him, because he said, " I am the bread that came down from heaven". So they said, This man is Jesus son of Joseph, isn't he? We know his father and mother. How, then, does he now say he came down from heaven?" Jesus answered, "Stop grumbling among yourselves . . .I am telling you the truth; he who believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate manna in the desert, but they died. But the bread that comes down from heaven is of such a kind that whoever eats it will not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I will give him is my flesh, which I give so that the world may live".

This started an angry argument among themselves. " How can this man give us his flesh to eat?", they asked. Jesus said to them," I am telling you the truth: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day. For my flesh is the real food; my blood is the real drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them". Jesus said this as he taught in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Many of his followers heard this and said,"This teaching is too hard. Who can listen to it?..". Many of Jesus' followers turned back and would not go with him any more. So He asked the twelve disciples "and you---Would you also like to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God." (Good News Bible)

PART 3 HOLY COMMUNION - Give us this Bread always