Some of the 5,000 people who had eaten the free bread of Jesus track Jesus down in a synagogue in the far side of the lake. They are still confused about how he managed go leave so ask him when he arrived.
Jesus does not answer the question, nor mentions that he walked across the water. He mentions that the crowd is looking for him because of the free food they had.
Jesus then begins a discussion about how he is the bread of life. Meanwhile, the crowd talks about miraculous signs necessary for their belief, including how the Israelites in the desert received manna from heaven. It is not stated, but this sequence of dialogue seems to imply that the crowd wanted Jesus to repeatedly provide miraculous bread, just like the Israelites received manna. In other words, they want lots of free meals.
Rather, Jesus discusses how he is the bread from heaven that they seek. This bread will provide everlasting life. Further, his blood is necessary too. People must eat his flesh and drink his blood to receive the everlasting life.
In many ways, this discussion seems to parallel the discussion with the woman at the well in which Jesus talked about a well of everlasting water. Here, these people received free bread and want more of it, so Jesus sticks with the bread analogy.
However, the discussion of cannibalism freaks out the crowd. They probably are not used to Jesus parables and using symbols to make his case. Jumping ahead to the Last Supper, Jesus will wrap this idea back together by using literal bread and wine to symbolize these spiritual concepts. But at this point, the crowd seems to only think Jesus is talking about cannibalism and they cannot handle it.
Many of the people following Jesus begin to desert. A day before, Jesus had an army of 5,000 people ready to make him king. Here, many of the same people cannot handle this discussion of cannibalism and they leave him.
Jesus asks his twelve core disciples what they will do. Simon Peter chimes in that Jesus has the words of life. The text is silent as to the other disciples. Again, this shows that Simon Peter is stepping out as a lead disciple.
Jesus also points out that one of the disciples is a devil, referring to Judas Iscariot. This is the first indication that there is any actual rift with Judas. Given that it appears in connection with this story, it suggests that Judas perhaps could not handle this discussion about cannibalism. That said, he was present at the Last Supper where Jesus clarified this concept and connected it to literal bread and wine.
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