Eat His Flesh and Drink His Blood

John 6:35

“And Jesus said unto them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.’

This is a universal question for many, when He said, we must eat His flesh and drink His blood. They ask, ” how can this be?” But first let’s read from 1 John 5:13, ” These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; That ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” The key word in this verse is ” believe.” But, we will expound on this further, in answer to the above question from John 6.

But first, let us return to that magnificent event in the miraculous feeding of the 5000 by Jesus, with just five barley loaves and two little fish. (John 6:1-14). What happened the following day? The masses of people went looking for Jesus. When the people found Jesus, He told them that they didn’t look for Him because of the miracle they had just experienced. But, they came looking for Him because they wanted some more food. (v.26). Then He told them not to labour for the meat that perishes but for the meat which would give them everlasting life. Jesus said He would give it to them.

Then the people said, ” What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” Jesus said to them, ” This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” (v.29). The people’s hearts were hard and selfish. They said, ” What sign shewest Thou then, that we may see, and believe Thee? What dost thou work?” Here now, only a day before He performed that huge miracle before them, and they totally ignored it saying, ” Show us something so we’ll believe you.” They did not believe Jesus, as so many also do not believe today.

The discontented people, then, went on to mention how their fathers, the Israelites, ate manna in the desert. (v.31). Recall now, how God fed them out there for 40 years! Now, the people wanted Jesus to feed them all the food they wanted their entire lives!

Jesus went on and told them, that God is giving them the ” true” bread from heaven. Jesus told the, ” The bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world.” (v. 32-33). Jesus is the bread, therefore, that gives ” nourishment” to the world. What kind of nourishment could this be? The answer will be forthcoming.

Then the unreasonable and restless masses of people asked, ” Lord, evermore give us this bread.” (v. 34-35). Jesus, again, responded by saying to them, ” I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.” We all know now, that no physical bread can make us full for the rest of our lives and no physical drink can quench our thirst for the rest of our lives. Then what did Jesus mean? We shall understand this as we proceed.

Jesus then, plainly tells the people that even though they had seen Him they did not believe in Him. Jesus tells them once again, ” And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life.” (v. 36-40).

Jesus said if we come to Him and ” believe” in Him we will get everlasting life, just like eating physical bread gives us physical life. The reflective people were talking about physical life. Jesus, in turn was talking about the spiritual life… where we will spend eternal life. The thoughtless people, at this point now, didn’t want to hear this ” believing” business because they did not, in the first place, believe in Him! They murmured at Him, much as their forefathers did, because He said that He was the bread that came down from Heaven. They started thinking back about His supposed family (Joseph, they said, was not His father). They basically said, ” We know His mother and father. How can He say He came down from heaven?” (v. 41-42).

Jesus then told the people, that anyone who hears and learns from God the Father will come to Him, others won’t. He told them, furthermore, what they needed to do and they ignored it and even got indignant about it. Once again, Jesus tells them what to do, ” Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.” (v. 43-47).

Now, Jesus breaks it all the way down again. These selfish people were just concerned with having their fill of bread, in essence, gluttony, so Jesus spoke wisely to them at that level which seemed to be the only way they could understand. He basically told them, ” Your fathers ate manna and they are dead. I am the living bread, eat of Me and you will live forever. My body is the bread I will give for the life of the world.” (v. 48-51). But, what did Jesus mean by ” eat of me?” Remember, He told them that the works of God was to ” believe” on Jesus.

What does it mean, however, to ” believe” ? Well, to believe is to accept, internalize, absorb, and assimilate, which is what eating is allowing an outside substance to come inside of you. But, unlike physical bread which is eaten and cast out through the gastro-intestinal system, the spiritual bread, the word of God, is eaten/internalized through belief and never cast out. It remains inside of us! Jesus clearly explains this again, that when we eat of Him, it is ” not as your fathers did, eat manna and are dead.” It is not the same kind of eating or consuming. It is, internalizing, accepting, ” believing” Him… all of these.

Jesus was crucified on the cross to pay for our death penalty… this is eternal death. If we believe that this happened and confess Him, we will not experience spiritual death. We will go to heaven… this is eternal life! Believing, internalizing, ” eating” this fact gives us eternal life. We need physical bread to stay alive, we need belief in His sacrifice (spiritual bread) so we can live forever.

Now, what about the blood? The shedding of blood is required to forgive our sins. The blood forgives our sins and washes them away forever so that we can live with a Holy and Just God who never sins and can’t live with sin. Hebrews 9:22 says that blood is required in order to get forgiveness of sins/remission. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Once again, if we accept Jesus, internalize Him, yes, eat of Him, we have eternal life. The people were talking about physical life, Jesus was talking about spiritual life. Remember, when asked what we have to do, to do the works of God, Jesus said, ” He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.” When we believe on Jesus Christ, He actually lives inside of us, never to be purged like physical bread like the eucharist (el caliz de la eucarista – Christian sacrament of the Lord’s Supper), which is eliminated from the body. Yet, Catholics consider the receiving of the sacrament of communion a critical element of their lives. (AP- Cassta – 4/5/05 – Wash. U.S. Nat.). Remember, again, because I believe, Jesus lives in me! (v. 48-51).

Well, this all caused the unbelieving Jews to say, ” How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” They are still thinking about physical life and physical bread. Jesus is talking about spiritual life and spiritual bread. He has told them over and over again, that the work of God is to ” believe” on Him, and they repeatedly refused to believe on Him and persisted in seeking physical bread.

Jesus said, “My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” Many people were offended at the thought of what they perceived as cannibalism. Because of their unbelief, they were still thinking in the physical realm. (v.55).

Now, what about the disciples that left Him? Was it because they had to literally eat of His flesh and drink His blood? No! They left because they did not believe the claims that Jesus made, just like the materialistic people who didn’t believe either. Because they did not believe, they could not understand what Jesus was saying. (1 Cor. 2:14).

Jesus, in fact, asked the disciples that murmured, ” Doth this offend you? It is the spirit that quickeneth (gives life); the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (v.63). He told them plainly that He was not talking literally. He said, ” …the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit.” He also told them here that the physical flesh profiteth nothing! Nothing!

Interestingly, the word ” eucharist” is not even in the Bible. There is no concept of the eucharist in the Bible – but there is in pagan religion. Many are still trusting the eucharist for their eternal life instead of trusting the real Jesus who inexpressibly loves them and cruelly died for them.

This is the answer to, ” Eat His flesh and drink His blood?”
AMEN.