This Bread Is My Flesh

And this morning we come to one of the most difficult teachings or sayings of Jesus in the Bible.

Jesus said a number of things that were difficult.

Some are difficult because they're hard to put into practice.

Some are difficult because they offend our sensibilities.

And some are difficult because they're just hard to understand what Jesus means.

This particular saying of Jesus is difficult for all three of those reasons.

So let's read what Jesus said in John chapter 6 starting in verse 48.

John 6 · chapter mention

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.

Wow.

Let's start with what is clear here.

Jesus said this while teaching in the synagogue.

We're not sure just when this conversation transitioned into the synagogue.

Or maybe it started in the synagogue.

And that's where he met up with some of the people who had been at the feeding of the 5,000 just the other day.

But here Jesus is in the synagogue.

He's in the place where devout Jewish people go to worship God.

And he's been teaching the crowd who's gathered there.

And we've already looked in a fair bit of detail at most of what Jesus has said in this conversation.

It's been a bit tense.

Jesus has told them that they have some majorly misplaced priorities.

He's told them that God, his Father, wants them to believe in him.

They demand a sign.

Give us some proof and then we'll believe.

Maybe do something like the miracle of the manna in the wilderness.

Jesus tells them basically God is right now giving them bread from heaven.

He says, I am the bread of life that has come down from heaven to give life to the world.

And of course we've talked about this.

Jesus is talking about eternal life and spiritual life as we've seen.

But then the crowd started to grumble because Jesus said that he was from heaven.

In their thoughts, he was just a man.

He was just the son of Joseph and Mary.

And so again, as we just read, he tells them, I am the bread of life.

He says, your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.

In other words, listen, you need more than just the manna like they had back then.

Having some manna appear on the ground tomorrow isn't going to help you with the problem of death.

They ate the manna provided from heaven, yet they died.

You can almost imagine it.

Jesus essentially saying, if I was to make some manna appear for you right now,

it wouldn't solve that problem.

You could eat it, and yet you would still die.

No, you need something more.

You need something better than that manna or bread of long ago.

He says, but here is the bread that comes down from heaven,

which anyone may eat and not die.

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.

So the manna like they had in the wilderness long ago,

it's not enough to meet your true need,

your deep need, your deeper need.

There is a provision of God, however, that can meet that need.

That provision is me, says Jesus.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

Literally, in the original, there's quite a lot of emphasis in those words.

He says, I am the bread, the living bread,

which from heaven came down.

So far, we're tracking with Jesus.

We've got some metaphor here.

I mean, we know, we all know that Jesus is not a loaf of bread.

He's a person.

He's a person claiming to be from heaven,

just like the manna was from heaven.

He's a person claiming to give life,

just like the manna did.

Only Jesus has made it clear.

The kind of life he's talking about is not just physical, bodily life.

It's spiritual.

It's relationship with God.

It's eternal life kind of life.

And especially the kind of life that happens at the last day

when he raises us up.

So, if we're listening carefully,

I mean, it seems pretty clear that Jesus is using a metaphor.

He's using a figure of speech.

He's making a parallel between that provision of God long ago

and the provision of God right now,

that he is standing in front of them.

There's a big difference between the bread of long ago

and the bread of today.

The word living draws our attention to that in verse 51.

I am the living bread.

That bread of long ago, it came from heaven, yes,

but it was still just bread.

But I am the living bread.

God's provision for your life today

has come down from heaven in the form of a living person.

And Jesus continues on with this metaphor.

He says,

whoever eats this bread will live forever.

This bread is my flesh,

which I will give for the life of the world.

And it's at this point that a sharp argument arises among the people who are listening that day.

Verse 52,

Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves.

How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

So obviously the crowd has missed the metaphor.

They've not fully picked up on the fact that Jesus is not talking about physical eating.

He's talking about himself as a living, breathing provision of God from heaven.

He's talking about how someday he will give his flesh for the life of the world.

How he will surrender his fleshly body to death.

So that anyone who believes in the whole world may have this eternal life that he's been talking about.

But the Jews there that day, they missed the metaphor.

They're still thinking about some kind of physical something that they can put into their mouth and chew.

How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

That sounds disgusting.

That sounds like cannibalism.

And even if he really intends to do that,

it would be wrong for anyone to actually eat his flesh.

We don't do that.

We eat the meat of animals, not people.

That's what I imagine they're thinking.

As the Old Testament scriptures teach,

man is a special and distinct creation of God.

Unlike the animals.

He says, I give you the animals for food.

But if anyone sheds the blood of man,

there's consequences.

Everywhere throughout the Old Testament that it's talked about eating the flesh of a human being,

it's something horrific and horrible that people do out of desperation

because of their own wickedness.

It's talked about as a curse.

And so I imagine these are the kinds of things that the people in the synagogue are thinking

as Jesus says this.

They totally misunderstand, it seems, what Jesus meant to say

when he said,

whoever eats this bread will live forever.

This bread is my flesh,

which I will give for the life of the world.

But then,

in response to all this,

Jesus says something that stirs them up even more.

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.

You can just imagine the eyes of the crowd in that moment go wide.

Like, whoa.

You can just imagine the eyes of the disciples of Jesus going wide.

Can you imagine what Peter's thinking at this moment?

Like, oh, no, Jesus, don't say that.

You're embarrassing us.

You can't seriously mean that, can you?

Like, if this is all just a metaphor or an analogy,

just tell us with plain words.

Don't say it like that.

I wonder if that's how some of us followers of Jesus today

feel about these words that Jesus said.

Do these words embarrass you?

Do you wish that Jesus hadn't said them?

Maybe do you think you know better than Jesus

how to get the truth across

to a hardened and unbelieving crowd like this one?

There are some words that I keep hearing

playing over in my mind as I think of this passage.

Something Jesus said to Peter on another occasion

and to the whole crowd.

He said, if anyone is ashamed of me

and my words in this sinful and adulterous generation,

the Son of Man will be ashamed of them

when he comes in his Father's glory

with the holy angels.

It's something to think about.

We should not be ashamed of what Jesus said here.

As shocking as it sounds,

I think Jesus meant to say it that way.

I think he meant to shock the people that day

and to get them to really think.

I mean, let's stop and think about this for a moment.

If Jesus was just trying to get a following

for his own ego,

like all of these people on YouTube these days,

why would he look at his followers

and say this to them?

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood?

My answer is that Jesus intended to shock them.

He intended to say it this way,

to get them really thinking about what he's saying.

I can't help but think of the paddles.

You know, the ones that the doctor uses

when a patient is flatlining in a hospital bed,

the shocker paddles, defibrillators,

or whatever they're called.

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like

to get shocked with those

while you're wide awake and healthy?

Apparently it's been described

as getting kicked in the chest by a mule

or as a small bomb going off inside of your ribcage.

Extremely painful.

And yet it's a shock

that we can be deeply thankful for

because there are times

when it can save our life,

when our hearts go out of rhythm.

And that's what I think is going on here.

Jesus has already said back in verse 36,

you have seen me

and still you do not believe.

Their hearts are out of rhythm.

They're spiritually flatlining.

The provision of God is right there in front of them

in the person of Jesus

and some of them have seen him do miracles already.

They ate the bread that he made

out of just five loaves.

And yet they won't come to him.

They won't believe in him.

And so perhaps Jesus says it like this

in such a shocking way

to pierce through the hardness of some

to get them really listening

and thinking about the words that he's saying.

Words which for some may be the words which give life.

So the big question is

what does Jesus mean

when he says this?

Whoever eats my flesh

and drinks my blood

has eternal life.

We all know the answer

intuitively.

We just do.

It's just,

it's one of those things.

You could ask anyone.

You could ask any person in this room.

Even the children know the answer.

I'm sure.

Does Jesus really want us

to take a bite of his flesh

and swallow down his blood?

No.

We just know it.

We know the answer

from the rest of the Bible.

Eating the flesh of people

and drinking their blood is horrible.

And it's wrong

as the scriptures portray.

We know the answer

from how the rest of Jesus' story unfolds.

If we watch how the story goes,

there never comes a moment

where Jesus turns

and instructs his disciples

to take a bite

or starts letting his blood out

for them to drink.

And we can know this answer

even just from the conversation

because we have to keep these words

in the context of this conversation.

All along until this point,

if we're listening closely

to the words Jesus chooses,

we can see that he has been speaking

in metaphor.

He's using bread from heaven

as an analogy,

as a parallel,

a figure of speech.

And so when he tells them

to eat his flesh

and drink his blood,

we need to continue

to interpret it that way.

We might paraphrase his words like this.

Very truly, I tell you,

you need to take

the provision of God

from heaven

into yourself

or unto yourself.

If you do not take

this provision of God,

which I am unto yourselves,

you will perish.

You will die.

I think that's the plain meaning

of Jesus' words.

But what keeps us

from hearing it that way?

Why do we trip over

his words so easily?

I want to suggest two things.

First, I think we have to be careful

about how we understand

the words truly, truly

or very truly.

The crowd says,

how can this man give us

his flesh to eat?

And Jesus says,

truly, truly,

unless you eat the flesh

and drink his blood,

you have no life in you.

What does truly, truly mean?

Is Jesus agreeing with them

and saying,

yes, indeed,

you do need to eat my flesh

and drink my blood

in the same sense

that you're thinking?

I don't think so.

That might be what some of them

thought Jesus meant.

But we might take

truly, truly

a different way.

He's not necessarily

agreeing with their

understanding of

how they need to

eat his flesh.

We might take it more

as something like,

in all seriousness,

or I tell you the truth.

unless you eat the flesh

of the Son of Man

and drink his blood,

in the sense that I mean,

you have no life in you.

The second thing I think

we need to be careful about

is verse 55.

This verse is part of why

we stumble over Jesus' words,

because we think,

well,

you can't really be meaning.

Eat your flesh

and drink your blood.

And then he says

in verse 55,

for my flesh is real food

and my blood is real drink.

The natural sense of that

seems to be that,

yes,

my flesh is actually food

that you need to eat

and my blood,

real drink that you need to drink.

But,

again,

we need to read

these words carefully.

Let's remember

how Jesus has talked

about food

in this conversation

already.

Back in verse 27,

he said,

do not work

for food that spoils.

but for food

that endures

to eternal life

which the Son of Man

will give you.

We saw back there

how Jesus was using

the word food

somewhat metaphorically

already.

Almost as a proverb

or a principle.

Don't work

for provisions

that don't last,

but for provisions

that last

into eternal life.

And I think

we should carry

that same sense forward

to these words

as well.

for my flesh

is real provision

from God

and my blood too

sent down from heaven

to meet your real need.

Both the body

and the blood

of Jesus

are critical

to this salvation plan

working.

this is what God

has been pointing to

for centuries

through the

Old Testament scriptures

through the sacrificial system

and the sacrifices

that had to be

brought to the tabernacle

and the temple

and be offered

for atonement of sins.

Blood had to be shed.

An animal had to be slain

bodily.

If Jesus has no body

and just comes down

as a spirit,

he cannot fully atone

for our sins.

We are bodily creatures

and so for justice

to be done,

an acceptable substitute

must take our place,

must take our punishment

upon himself

and to be

an acceptable substitute

for complete

and final forgiveness,

Jesus had to be human.

He had to be one of us.

He had to have a body

like we do

and blood coursing

through his veins

like we do.

He had to face

the punishment

we deserved

which was

no less

than bodily death.

His flesh,

this comes through

really clearly

in the words

of the author

of Hebrews.

Since the children

have flesh

and blood,

he too

shared in their humanity

so that by his death

he might break

the power

of him who holds

the power of death,

that is,

the devil,

and free those

who all their lives

were held

in slavery

by their fear of death.

There you see,

flesh and blood

are required

to make atonement.

His flesh,

his blood

is real,

true,

genuine provision

from God

that meets

our need

so that we

can be spared

what we deserve

for our sins

and have

that eternal life

that he's been

talking about.

Notice the word

real.

The word real

can also be

translated as true.

Real isn't the same

as the word

literal.

He's not saying

my flesh is

literal food.

He's saying

it's real,

it's true,

it's genuine

food or provision

that you must

take unto yourself

and participate in

or you will die.

So we have to

read this carefully

or else

we'll find ourselves

in the same spot

as the crowd

and kind of

asking that same

question.

Will he really

give us

his flesh to eat?

the context

by the way

points to this

as well.

We see this

in verse 51.

He says,

this bread

is my flesh

which I will

give for the

life of the

world.

And if we read

that with the

full story of

Jesus in mind

we can see

the way that

his flesh

gives life

is through

his death.

it's through

his giving

over of

his flesh

to death

which will

happen

at the cross

as the story

goes.

Not only that

but we have

already heard

Jesus drop

the metaphor

for a moment.

If you think

back to verse 35

he said it

what they need

to do

very plainly

there.

He said,

whoever

comes to

me

will never

go hungry

and whoever

believes

in me

will never

be thirsty.

So the way

that you get

your need

to eat

of Jesus

satisfied

forever

is simply

to come

to him.

The way

that you get

your need

to drink

of Jesus

satisfied

your thirst

quenched

is simply

to believe

in him.

That's what

it means

to eat

and drink

of Jesus.

And yet

in all this

I think

Jesus is

quite deliberate

in calling

them to eat

and drink

of him.

Why?

Well we already

talked about

the gracious

shock paddles

for an

unresponsive

heart

but beyond

that there's

something very

rich

and intimate

about the

language of

eating and

drinking.

Eating and

drinking

when it's

used in

metaphor

communicates

a depth

of participation.

When you

eat or

drink something

it goes

from being

outside of

you

to inside

of you.

It goes

from

you know

food

drink

it goes

from doing

nothing

for you

to now

when it's

inside of

you

giving life

to the

body

as it's

used

by the

body.

in the

same way

I think

Jesus is

making a

point here

unless you

participate

unless you

partake

of my

death

my

flesh

and my

blood

which I

will give

for your

life

unless you

take

what I'm

going to

do

for you

on that

cross

into

yourself

unto

yourself

to the

very

depths

you will

die

but if

you do

you will

live

forever

so what's

the significance

of all

this

well I guess

we could

say that

in a

veiled

sort of

way

Jesus

without

them

fully

realizing

it

is

telling

them

about

how

he

is

going

to

suffer

and

die

for

the

life

of

the

world

as

a

gracious

provision

of

God

from

heaven

which

unlike

the

manna

will

give

them

life

beyond

the

grave

if

only

they

will

eat

and

drink

what

God

has

provided

if

only

they

will

come

to

him

and

believe

in

him

and

this

is

exactly

what

Jesus

prepared

his

disciples

to

understand

on the

night

of

his

betrayal

he

sat

down

with

them

to

eat

the

Passover

meal

and

they

sat

around

the

table

at

that

meal

and

Jesus

again

used

metaphor

while

they were

eating

Jesus

took

bread

and

when

he

had

given

thanks

he

broke

it

and

gave

it

to

his

disciples

saying

take

and

eat

this

is

my

body

then

he

took

a

cup

and

when

he

had

given

thanks

he

gave

it

to

them

saying

drink

from

it

all

of

you

this

is

my

blood

of

the

covenant

which

is

poured

out

for

many

for

the

forgiveness

of

sins

it

wasn't

his

own

flesh

that

he

broke

and

gave

out

and

that

they

ate

neither

was

it

his

own

blood

that

he

poured

into

the

cup

and

then

passed

out

his

own

flesh

was

broken

the

next

day

when

he

died

on

the

cross

his

own

blood

was

poured

out

the

next

day

and

he

gave

it

for

the

life

of

the

world

in

the

same

way

it's

it's

not

eating

or

drinking

from

this

table

that

gives

us

life

what

his

disciples

did

that

night

didn't

give

them

life

it

was

what

Jesus

did

the

next

day

as

his

flesh

and

blood

was

given

for

the

world

a

special

gift

of

God

from

heaven

that's

what

the

table

the

meal

points

to

it's

symbolic

and

even

today

as we

come to

this

table

it points

back to

that same

reality

drinking

from

this

cup

and

eating

this

bread

it

doesn't

give

you

salvation

we

don't

believe

as some

do

that

this

bread

and

cup

actually

become

the

blood

and

body

of

Jesus

in

some

mysterious

way

it's

just

ordinary

bread

and

grape

juice

but

partaking

of

this

table

is

one

of

the

most

important

things

that

we

do

as

Christians

as

a

church

it's

something

we were

instructed

to do

by

Jesus

himself

it's

our

way

of

saying

with

our

actions

yes

Jesus

I

have

come

to

you

yes

Jesus

I

do

believe

in

you

and

I

take

I

receive

and

I

take

into

myself

what

your

death

accomplished

on the

cross

what

your

body

and

blood

accomplished

for

me

eternal

life

and

forgiveness

of

sins

and

so

let's

take

a

moment

as

we

prepare

to

eat

and

drink

from

the

table

to

pray

quietly

to

our

Lord

we're

going to

have

some

music

play

and

I

want

to

encourage

you

to

take

a

few

minutes

in

the

quietness

of

your

own

heart

to

confess

to

thank

God

to

reflect

on

what

Jesus

suffered

for

you

on

the