At the height of His popularity, Jesus gave what theologians refer to as His most difficult teaching.  Upon hearing it, many of His followers turned away and rejected Him.  Even His own disciples had trouble swallowing it.  While there is no doubt that what Jesus said was difficult, I believe the teaching is easier to understand than most make it.  So, what was it that Jesus said?

Jesus said to them, "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. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him 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 him.  John 6:53-56

Those who first heard this thought Christ was referring to cannibalism, but that is not the case.  Yet, it does sound like Christ is talking about literally eating His body and drinking His blood.  Since we know this is not what He was talking about, we must dig deeper to find the true, spiritual meaning of His words.  If we go back to John 6:40, we discover a close parallel with verse 54.  I’ve listed both verses below to make this easier to see.

Notice that the last half of both verses (the part underlined) is identical and the first half of each verse is similar.  In short, both verses are saying the same thing:

The phrase, “looks to” is the Greek word theōreō and means “to discern or perceive.”  Likewise, “believes in” is taken from the Greek word pistueō  meaning “to have faith in, to commit to or put one’s trust in.”  Thus, if we desire eternal life we must, through the help of the Holy Spirit, discern that Jesus really is the Son of God and put our faith in Him.

Additionally, to “look to” and “believe in” were figures of speech in Jesus’ day, describing a person who receives and applies God’s truth.  Again we see that what Jesus was saying is that if we desire eternal life we must receive Him as our Savior and apply His truth to our daily lives.

Furthermore, the phrase flesh and blood carries the idea of embracing Christ’s whole person and all of His truth.  Thus, looking to and believing in, receiving and applying, eating His flesh and drinking His blood are all saying the same thing: we must perceive we need a Savior, receive Jesus as our Savior, and look to Him daily so He can apply all of His life and all of His truth to our spirit.

Now let’s dig deeper.  Why did Christ say we must eat His flesh and drink His blood?  Why doesn’t He speak in a manner that makes more sense?  The answer is Jesus said what He said purposefully and for a reason, He says nothing by mistake.  So, what is the purpose of His words? 

Better yet, why did God create us to eat and drink in the first place?  He didn’t have to create us to eat and drink.  God could have created us in a manner so we never had to eat or drink, but He didn’t.  Why?  Because, God uses the natural world to teach us spiritual truths.

In order to get the full meaning of Jesus’ teaching, we must go back to the beginning, to the Garden of Eden, for it is there that humankind’s problems began.  It was in the Garden that Adam and Eve sinned, thereby plunging all of creation into sin and death.  But God, who is rich in mercy, sent His Son to die for our sins and restore us to Himself.

It is at this point that we begin to see why Christ said what He said about eating and drinking.  We all know that Adam and Eve sinned, but how did they sin?  What was it they specifically did?  They ate something!  They physically ate something that had spiritual consequences.  In essence, they put something in their body that God told them not to eat.

When Christ said, “You must eat my flesh and drink my blood,” He was correcting the sin of Adam and Eve.  They had consumed the forbidden fruit which lead to death.  We must consume the whole person of Christ which leads to eternal life.  What Jesus was teaching is this: we must only allow things in our heart that are birthed by the Spirit of God.  When we open our hearts and consume or eat the wrong thing, it leads to death.

Again, to eat His flesh and drink His blood means to allow all of Christ to live in our heart.  It means we feast upon the person of Christ.  He alone is our true source of nourishment, for we do not live by physical food alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God and Christ is that Living Word on which our spirit feasts.

Christ is also referred to in Scripture as the bread of life, the true manna which comes down from heaven, the true drink, etc.  You see, every time we physically eat or drink something we are to be reminded of our need for spiritual food and spiritual drink: that is, our need for Christ.  Here’s the best part of all, if you read the creation story you will discover that God provided physical food before He created Adam and Eve.  In short, God provided the provision before it was ever needed.  Likewise, God provided the provision of salvation before humankind needed it.  For, the Lamb of God was slain before the creation of the world (Rev. 13:8).

My prayer for you is that you will taste and see that the Lord is good, for He has supplied all of your needs.  I also pray that you will look to and believe in Christ, that you will feast upon His whole person, and that you will increase in spiritual strength and health.  May the Holy Spirit lead you as you allow only what is pure and holy in to your heart.  Feast on His Body and His Blood!

You are the one God loves!

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