John 6 is an interesting chapter because in the beginning of the chapter, crowds of people are chasing Jesus, and at the end most of the disciples except for the twelve have decided no longer to follow him. What did he do in the middle of the chapter that turned them all off?
In verse 2 a great crowd of people follow him because he is healing the sick people. Then Jesus has to dodge the crowd, because they are so amazed by his miracle of feeding 5000 people, that they decide to make him king by force. So he sneaks into the hills for a while then when it is dark, walks across the lake to catch up with the boat of his friends. The next morning the crowd of people "borrow" some boats to chase after Jesus. They want to find out the secret password to dining at an all-you-can-eat buffet every day, like their ancestors got with the manna miracle after they left Egypt.
But then Jesus grosses them all out. He tells the Jews that he now is the manna. And goes on:
"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. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Our forefathers at manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever."
Now these people all knew that eating or drinking blood was a serious violation of their religious teachings. How could they follow a leader that told them not only to drink blood, but to drink his blood and eat his flesh. Either he is telling a rude joke, or he is a crazy-man. So by the end of the chapter "many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him."
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