If Jesus was trying to win friends and influence people, this was not the way to do it. And if he was trying to have a big following and invite disciples, this was definitely not how. But Jesus spoke the truth. And in this case, he spoke a shock text to wake them up.
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?”
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 6:51-59).
This was shocking. Appalling. Grotesque.
For us who see from after the cross and have a better understanding, it is much easier. But for the people at the time, one might have thought he was insane.
Actually, that’s what we see. When Jesus finished saying these things, the people left. En masse.
Is Jesus saying become cannibals? And eat him and drink his blood? That is the path of eternal life? We know that is not the case as we nowhere see this in Scripture. Nor is it consistent with his teachings on eternal life.
Does it mean what Catholics partially understand it to mean? For many Catholics, they take it to mean that at communion time, the communion turns into the actual blood of Jesus and body of Jesus supernaturally. Mystically. It’s why they have a boy who holds a plate underneath to catch it so if the communion is dropped, it does not touch the floor.
Once again, we have to look at context. What is going on?
Jesus has just fed the 5000. Some of the crowd then came to him and asked him to prove himself with a miracle, like Moses with the manna in the desert. Jesus confronts them and says they are looking for worldy gain instead of a spiritual perspective. He tells them He is the bread of life. And then he says plainly,
“This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (v. 51).
What he says next, that his flesh is his real food and his body is real drink sounds like cannibalism. But we have to take it context with what he has been teaching. And that is that he will give his life as a ransom according to the Scriptures, that he will be killed and in three days rise again.
How much he emphasized this latter teaching by the time when Jesus spoke this message we don’t know. But we do see often in the Old Testament that he would be crucified (Psalm 22), and that he would give his life as a ransom for the sins of the people (Isaiah 53).
His body was the real sacrifice. His shed blood would be real. That’s why he said, “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” He was speaking the language of sacrifice. It was familiar to them from the temple sacrifices. That’s why there was an argument among the Jews (v. 52). Some saw this metaphor. Others did not.
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” (John 6:56-58).
The shock text is that just as the survival of the Israelites depending on eating the manna that came from heaven, so all of humanity would need to depend completely on Jesus for their salvation.
It would not be enough to just nibble at bread, look at it, talk about it, discuss the ingredients or anything superficial. One would need to consume the bread. That is to receive it completely and internally.
This was a metaphor of receiving Jesus completely into their lives. Not literally, as in eating his flesh and blood. But through receive his literal, sacrificial death for the saving of their souls for eternal life.
There was a spiritual component to this. We see this when Jesus rebuked the people for wanting only a physical miracle and not working for food that was eternal (John 6:26-27).
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
And we also see it by his teaching he would give his disciples immediately afterwards. That this was a spiritual discussion that was to confront unbelief (John 6:63-64).
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.”
It’s a hard teaching. And it was a shocking one. It was a confrontation of their belief or lack of it.
Many did not understand and so they left. They did not stick around.
Which is often the case of humanity. If we do not completely understand, we leave. If God does something, or does not do something we expect of him, we leave.
But the disciples stayed. Even when they did not understand, they stayed (v. 67-68).
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered 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.”
After the cross, this would all make more sense. Jesus was the literal sacrifice for our sins, made possible by his actual blood and body that would be killed on the cross. It was the message that they would preach. And it was about giving man eternal life. Not on this earth with earthly pleasures and ease, but salvation in heaven once and for all.
John 6:51-71
51 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.”
52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
53 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. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 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. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit[e] and life. 64 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. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)