Sixth Chapter of St John

Let us look immediately after the Gospel story. St, John tells us how our Lord had just worked two spectacular miracles; He had fed a multitude containing five thousand men, and He had walked on water of the sea of Galilee and quelled a storm. Having returned to Capharnaum, He was sought out by the Jews, whom immediately asked, " Master, when did thou come here?  Our Lord fully aware of their sincerity, replied: " " If you are looking for me now, it is not because of the miracles you have seen; it is because you were fed with loaves, and had your fill." And he went on to demand their faith: " This is the service God asks of you, to believe in the man whom he sent." They replied by demanding a sign. Moses had given manna inn the desert, could Jesus do something comparable to assert His superiority? He replied: " The bread that comes from heaven is not what Moses gave you The real bread from heaven is given only by my Father.. It is I who am the bread of life.; he who comes to me will never be hungry, he who has faith in me enjoys eternal life.It is I who am the bread of life, your fathers, who at manna in the desert, died none the less; the bread which comes down from heaven is such that he who eats it never dies. I myself am the living bread that has come down from heaven. If any one eats of this bread ( believes in me , whom the father has sent) he shall live forever. And now, what is this bread which I am going to give? It is my flesh, given for the life of the world.
There was an uproar. The Jews realized this was incapable of a metaphorical explanation and so, with perfect logic, they sked: " how can this man give us this flesh to eat?"  Jesus answered clearly and emphatically: Believe in me when I tell you this: you can have no life in yourselves, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood. the man who eats my flesh and drinks my blood enjoys eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. As I live because of the Father, the Living Father who has sent me, so he who eats me, will live, in his turn, because of me. This is the bread which has come down from  heaven; But this promise had to be accepted literally!  This was more than enough for the Jews. Jesus answered their challenge by repeating what He had said, that their was not the slightest doubt, that hw meant them to take him literally. He made a solid statement: "Believe me when I tell you this." Six times in as many verses He repeated His statement: to bring out the true meaning: " my flesh is real food, my blood is real drink. He carefully distinguished between eating his body and drinking His blood, which distinction would have been without purpose
if he was only speaking metaphorically. In any case, the only figurative meaning eating another's flesh and drinking his blood in the language used in Our Lord's time was to hate or injure another.
As with Nicodemus, when Jesus had been using metaphors, He quickly explained His true meaning.
There was no metaphor to explain away, "This is strange talk,"  the Jews said, "" Who can be expected to listen to this? After this many of the disciples went back to their old ways, and walked no more in his company." Jesus let them go. If any mitigation of His teaching had been possible He was surely bound,  to call them back and explain their error. Instead He turned to the Apostles: " Would
you, too, go away?" He asked. " Simon Peter answered him,?  Lord to whom should we go? You have words of eternal life; we have learned to believe, and are assured that " Thou art the Christ,
the Son of God."