Jesus lets five thousand people have enough to eat with the pieces of the five loaves and two fish across the Sea of Tiberias. The people get amazed and follow Jesus even to Capernaum by boat.
“Rabbi, when did You get here?”
“You are looking for me, because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.”
“What must we do to do the works God requires?”
“Believe in Me.”
At the words of Jesus, the crowd asks Him for a sign through which they can believe in Him.
“Our forefathers ate the manna given from heaven in the desert. If You show us the same miraculous sign, we will believe in You.”
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
At the words they cannot understand, the people begin to grumble.
“Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Many people who followed Jesus, calling themselves “disciples,” get greatly disappointed and leave Him. Those who are left are only the Twelve.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?”
Jesus asks the Twelve. Peter answers Him.
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Seeing the miracle of feeding the five loaves and the two fish to five thousand people, the Jews wanted to make Jesus king with the expectation that they could eat enough without working all their life. As they only focused on their physical desires, they could not understand Jesus’ words of eternal life at all.
Unlike the Jews who turned back and no longer followed Jesus, the twelve disciples had no reason to leave Him, because they knew that Jesus had what is more important than food for physical life.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?”
If God asks this, those who keep the new covenant, hoping for eternal life, will answer the same as Peter did.
“To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”