John 6:54b: Raised by him.

I will raise them up at the last day.

But doesn't St Paul tell us that "all will be raised"? This phrase has been used earlier in verse 40 in the context of believing in him.

I think that the emphasis here is that we don't believe in the way that we believe in the sky being blue - if it were red I would believe that too - in a way that nothing really depends on it. It means believing with an intesity that trusts absolutely.

As for being raised by Jesus this means being raised as one of his own. Sure, all will be raise but some for glory and some for destruction.

John 6::49-51a: Manna is not enough

Your forefathers ate manna in the desert and yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven

Miraculous it might have been the manna of Sinai was just another temporary expedient. Just as the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin, so manna could not give eternal life. Jesus is the bread of life and only his death on the cross would suffice.

John 6:48: the everlasting bread of life.

I am the bread of life.

The is the Burning Bush, bread of life. The I am that I am, bread of life. The I, that has always been and am now and ever shall be, bread of life. This is the He that liveth, that liveth and was dead, behold he is alive for ever more, bread of life. This is the Creator God, bread of life. This is the self sacrificing son, bread of life. This is the Spirit that lives within me, bread of life. This is the bread of everlasting life.

John 5:32. Who is the other witness?

There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid

We know that the 'another' is the Father, but Jesus is not revealing this just yet. He will go on to list other witnesses, but from what has preceded this, we know he must mean the Father.

John 1:18

No-one has seen God but God the one and only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

I and my Father are one, says Jesus later in this Gospel. How silly that some people assume that God cannot be known. Among the many reasons that we have Jesus in Scripture is to make God Known. Only Jesus has this information. If you want to know God, study Jesus. From him we know that God is love, long suffering, kind - with a special affection for children, but also witty, imaginative, creative, good with people, wise, and though sometimes angry, always compassionate, powerful, valient for the truth and a hater of evil; concerned for his friends while not being blind to their faults, capable, confident, charismatic; giving gifts to those who don't deserve it out of mercy and grace.

So ends the prologue to John's Gospel. This is the poem that I wrote as a summary:

But Jesus was not Jesus then, no more
The Virgin Mary’s son; He was the Word,
With God, the three in one, in rapt rapport
Held fast by love. The Holy Three conferred
And made the sky, the earth, the sea; His hand
In each creative act. The Spirit soared
Above the seas before that great command,
“Let there be light!” He was the Light; adored
By angels. Darkness could not comprehend.
Then there was life, of countless, teeming kind.
In Him was life and His that life to lend;
The light of men; for Man he had designed
To hold His image and when thus constrained
To free from bondage those whom sin had stained.