Can you or anyone define exactly who "the Jews" were that this Gospel is referring to? Were they simply residents of Judah, a few Hebrew speakers, or some other identifiable group? (If you can do it from Scripture its extra credit)
"- but they actually stuck around a bit more, didn't they?"
Some did, many did not. Those that stayed were Christians, those that left remained Jews. That is clear from the Scripture.
"The very elements that Catholics consume in the Eucharist are NOT literally changed - no matter how much protest and insistence is made that they are. They REMAIN and retain the same properties that they started out as and the only change is the spiritual perception of the ones partaking."
We continue to speak past each other on this, probably due to the limitations of English to properly convey the actual meanings of the words spoken by Jesus. The accidents of the bread and wine, described as fruit of the earth/vine and works of human hands in the liturgy of the Mass do not change, however the substance is transformed into the Real Body and Real Blood of Christ. It is the Epiousion, the "Panem Supersubstantialium, the "supersubstantial bread", the Eucharist.
"Ton arton hemon ton epiousion"
"Panem nostrum supersubstantialem da nobis hodie."
"Give us this day our daily bread"
Peace be with you
I'm always up for a challenge. ;o)
We know they were "Jews" simply because the passage in John 6 SAYS they are. Here:
At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” (John 6:41-42)
And here:
“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (John 6:43-52)
And again:
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, 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 them 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 them. 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. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. (John 6:53-59)
Got that? He was speaking to Jews "while teaching in the synagogue" and referring to their ancestors in the wilderness. But, if you notice, it is NOT the "Jews" that turned back from following him, but his DISCIPLES. See:
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.” From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. (John 6:60-66)
Jesus was not concerned about the "Jews" like he was about his followers (disciples). There continued to be Jewish people following him around - especially the religious leaders looking to find fault so they could condemn him. That's why I do not think it was Jesus' words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood that so grossed them out they split - they had heard His parables and metaphors plenty of times - but when he told them "yet there are some of you who do not believe" and "no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them", they "turned back and no longer followed him". These were the ones who gave up following him - I think they were convicted in their hearts that their reasons for following Jesus were not sincere. It is after this that Jesus turned to Peter and the other eleven that stuck around and asked, “You do not want to leave too, do you?”, and Peter answers Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” YET, Judas was STILL there, wasn't he? Judas stuck around, but we don't know his heart whether he had turned against Jesus already. John 6:70-71 says, "Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)
Does this pass your test? As for the ones who stayed, they were STILL ethnic Jews, that had not changed, but they WERE Christians - they had started to really believe that Jesus was who He said He was. Yet, we know that when the rubber met the road, even Peter - who was the first to pipe up at this scene in John 6 - denied he even knew who Jesus was and NONE of the others dared to show their faces, only John showed up under the cross. It was after the resurrection that, I think, they became TRUE believers. Blessed are we, Jesus said, that believe even we have not seen.