What does it mean to eat His flesh and drink His blood?
Jesus said the bread He gives is His own flesh, and that unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood we have no life in ourselves. He was not describing cannibalism, and the Supper in the upper room was still to come. He tells us Himself that the eating is coming to Him and the drinking is believing in Him, so that whoever feeds on Him by faith lives in Him and He in him. The bread of life is a Person, and faith is the mouth that receives Him.
This question arose from studying What is the Lord's Supper?.
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What the Scripture says
The bread that perishes and the bread that endures
The crowd crossed the sea looking for Jesus because they had eaten their fill the day before, and He named the real hunger: 'Most certainly I tell you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled.' Then He turned them from the gift to the Giver: 'Don't work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life.' They asked what work God required, and the answer ruled out earning anything at all: 'This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.'
Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled.
The manna was a picture, and not the reality
Israel ate bread rained from the sky in the wilderness for forty years, and they still died. Jesus took that memory and turned it: 'Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness,' the crowd said, and He answered, 'Most certainly, I tell you, it wasn't Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread out of heaven.' The manna fed a nation one day at a time; the bread He gives is a Person who came down, and 'the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.'
Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’”
Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, it wasn’t Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread out of heaven.
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
The house of Israel called its name Manna, and it was like coriander seed, white; and its taste was like wafers with honey.
The hard saying: how can this man give us his flesh to eat?
This is where the crowd balked, and their objection is the very question this study answers: 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' Jesus did not soften it. 'Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don't have life in yourselves,' He said, and then He made the promise three ways: the one who eats and drinks 'has eternal life', 'lives in me, and I in him', and will be raised 'at the last day'. Whatever else this means, it is not a figure of speech for something optional. It is union with Christ, or nothing.
The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves.
He tells us what He meant: coming, believing, and the Spirit
Jesus interpreted His own words, and He did it before the crowd ever objected. When He said 'I am the bread of life', He defined the eating in the same breath: 'He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.' Later He said it plainly: 'he who believes in me has eternal life.' So the coming is the eating and the believing is the drinking, and no one does it by their own strength: 'No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.' Then, when the saying had scattered His followers, He named why it works at all: 'It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing.' His words are 'spirit, and are life' because the Spirit makes them effective. The eating is real, and it is spiritual.
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.
Many turned back, and Peter stayed for the right reason
John records what the hard saying cost: 'At this, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.' Jesus turned to the twelve and asked whether they wanted to leave as well, and Peter's answer is this whole study in one sentence: 'Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' The bread of life is not a doctrine to master but a Person to stay with, and the ones who stay are the ones who keep feeding on Him by faith.
Where the Supper fits
The Supper in the upper room came later, and Jesus gave His church a meal He did not give that day in Capernaum. He gave it as the sign of exactly this reality: 'The cup of blessing which we bless, isn't it a sharing of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, isn't it a sharing of the body of Christ?' The bread and the cup are given to those who have come to Him and believed, and they proclaim His death until He comes. How Christ is present in them is a question the church has answered differently; what John 6 settles is where the life is.
The cup of blessing which we bless, isn’t it a sharing of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, isn’t it a sharing of the body of Christ?
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
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What is faith, exactly?→The Gospel trail“Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen.”What is the Lord's Supper?→The Church trail“For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in memory of me.” In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”How is Christ present in the Lord's Supper?→The Church trail“He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.” Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”Can anyone resist God's grace?→The Gospel trail“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.”We haven't written this one yet. Take it to your church or small group: the Word answers it wherever it is asked. If we study it here later, all the better.
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Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
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