Jesus Christ was a trouble maker. He was divisive. He split families, towns, nations, even our timeline (BC/AD). Jesus deliberately offended people. And there’s probably no better example than John 6:53. ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.’ Just in case you thought Jesus got his words mixed up and He didn’t really mean what He said, the very next verses drive the point home.
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
John 6 is an all-round offensive chapter. Before Jesus offends our decency in verse 53 with His self-mutilating, cannibal-talk, He offends out logic and intellect. He instantly heals the sick (verse 2). He feeds 5,000 people from 5 loaves and 2 fish (verses 5-11). He walks on water (verse 19). Nothing offends the logic of us modern sophisticated people more than the miraculous. Just like Philip in verse 7, many people are held captive by their own intellect. They can’t see past it. They are unable to accept Christianity because of the miracles.
Miracles may defy human logic and intellect, but isn’t it reasonable to believe God can exceed the physical laws He created? If we have a problem with the miraculous then we also have a problem with Jesus. He wasn’t just a good moral man. Everything about Him, from His incarnation to His resurrection, is miraculous.
So far as I can see Christianity is precisely the one religion from which the miraculous cannot be separated. — C.S. Lewis, Christian Apologetics, (essay)
After our logic, Jesus will then offend our personal beliefs and that which is most sacred to us. Jesus’ talk about eating flesh and drinking blood was most offensive to the Jew and their religion (Judaism). Other cultures and religions engaged in human sacrifice, cannibalism and blood letting. But for the Jews, these things were strictly forbidden. Nor were they permitted to eat meat sacrificed to idols or meat that had not been bled. Blood, of any kind, was not to be consumed.
Jesus’ invitation to eat His flesh and drink His blood was wholly offensive to their personal beliefs, their culture, and their religion. This offence sorted out what they respected most, what was most important. These disciples who had witnessed many miracles, who knew Jesus personally, now ‘turned back and no longer walked with him’ (Verse 66).
Jesus tests us like this because He is serious about commitment. Jesus is like a groom who has sacrificed everything for His beloved. He has wedding vows in mind when it comes to humanity. We must take His love and invitation seriously.
How would a groom react when it came time to say ‘I do’ his beloved bride said, ‘I’ll see how it goes, but this had better fit my plans and benefit me’. It would not be unreasonable for him to reply, ‘You can’t be serious!’ If no groom on earth would accept a bride with that blasé selfish attitude, then why should God accept that same from us? The Gospel is an invitation to marry ‘The Truth’ (see John 14:6), for better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness or in health…
The prevailing theme of John 6 is food. ‘You are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves’ (verse 26). It was their stomachs that caused the crowd to follow Jesus across the Capernaum Sea. And Jesus immediately uses this to get His point across, ‘Do not labour for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you’ (verse 27). When Jesus referred to Himself in verse 55 as ‘true food’ and ‘true drink’ He was powerfully conveying the truth: your life, your sustenance is only found in me.
Our physical body has a totally dependent and exclusive relationship with food. Without food the body will die. Food and drink are all the body really needs. Culture, art, education, sport, entertainment, music etc all add to life, but they don’t sustain it. Only food does. For food to give us life, we can’t just smell it or see it or go near it. Food must be consumed and become part of our body to be of any use.
Our body exclusively requires food. It will not tolerate anything else. It might be ‘politically correct’ to approve of someone’s choice to eat gravel or plastic, but their body will not accept their ‘open minded’ decision. And if such a person continues to consume things that aren’t true food and true drink, they will die.
It may be ‘closed-minded’ and ‘intolerant’ to believe food is exclusive to the body, but it’s the truth. Truth is exclusive to reality like food is to the body. We don’t decide what is food and what is not. And neither do we decide what is true and what is not. What we can decide is how we respond to reality – to accept what is food and accept what is true. It is to our peril not to accept ‘true food’ (see verse 55).
Hell is not eternal life with torture but something far worse: eternal dying. — Peter Kreeft, Hell (peterkreeft.com)
The true food we need for eternal life is exclusively Jesus Christ. He is to our spirit what food is to our body. Without Him we will die eternally. It’s not enough to find out about Jesus or go to church or sing songs about Him or feel His presence. We must eat. Unless Jesus becomes part of our life, like food and drink, eternal death is unavoidable.
Jesus is not asking us to believe; even Satan can do that. He is not asking us to get close to Him. Judas did that. Jesus is asking us to ‘taste and see’, to partake of the mystery that is ‘Christ in you’. ‘Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever’ (verse 58).
(All Bible quotes from the ESV)