“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
So 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. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
John 6:51-58
Cannabilism and the Early Church
The first thing that comes to my mind when reading this passage is how the early christians were often accused of being cannibals by informers and the Roman authorities. And reading this text it is not hard to see why people might think this!
‘Eat my flesh and drink my blood’ sounds more like something from some dark ancient religion than from our western churches. In fact, I think that we (that is those of us who spend far too much time in churches) often forget how offensive and hard to understand phrases like this can be. So often if someone asks what this means we just say ‘it just means communion – where we drink grape juice and eat a piece of bread and remember Jesus and what he did for us’ – certainly sounds a lot less offensive – but perhaps that is the problem – we have taken something that is meant to be challenging and offensive and turned into a nice little ritual where we can feel good about what Jesus has done for us.
Jesus… hero one day … whacko the next
To gain a better understanding of this passage we need to briefly recount what has just gone before (John ch 6 version according to mc)
* Jesus and large crowd in wilderness
* Jesus feeds crowd from 5 loaves and two fishes (from small boy)
* People like Jesus!
* People want to make Jesus King
* Jesus runs away … goes to other side of lake (transport method: walking on water)
* Crowd goes looking for Jesus and finds him
* Jesus says ‘you want me because I gave you free food … try this for size ..’
* Jesus talks about ‘true bread from heaven, which after people eat are never hungry’
* Crowd says ‘sounds great! what do we have to do to get this’
* Jesus says ‘I am the bread of life … I come from heaven … come to me and believe in me’
* Crowd says ‘who does he think he is? We know his parents!’
* Jesus says ‘I am living bread you must eat of me’
* Crowd says ‘how can we eat your flesh? what are you talking about?’
* Jesus says ‘eat my flesh (not shorts) drink my blood’ (today’s passage)
* Crowd says ‘this guy is nuts!’ and leave
Soooo typical of Jesus. People like him, he runs away, people want more of him so he does something to offend them and drive them away. Didn’t this guy read any evangelism books or go to any church growth seminars? This is no way to develop a successful and growing movement …
The crowd in this story are offended for a number of reasons
* Jesus claims to have come from heaven (yeah right buddy … we know your parents!)
* Jesus tells them they have to eat his flesh and drink his blood (obviously loony …)
In many ways these objections of the crowd are the same objections that people have to Jesus today (and this is in the church!!!)
Jesus comes from heaven vs I know your mummy!
Today many people have problems that Jesus might actually come from heaven. While we might not know Joseph and Mary we know the Gospel’s ‘parents’. That is – we know that the Gospel’s were written by people who weren’t eyewitnesses. We know they collected and edited stories and put them together. We know that they wrote with specific communities and issues in mind … in other words we say to Jesus ‘we know your mummy! we know where you came from and the process used to write these Gospels – therefore you can’t have come from heaven – you are just another human’
Drink my blood vs can I have some grape juice please … the non-alcoholic type!
Eat my flesh and drink my blood – hard offensive statements that put people off Jesus and make him an offense to the authorities … not what we want. We want nice consumer Jesus with the action models and bland music and nothing that will challenge our nice Christian middle-class way of life. Eat my flesh!
No more Grape Juice Please …
So what then do we make of this passage – John is very clearly challenging us through Jesus words. What is Jesus saying , why and what does it mean for us?
Eat my flesh, drink my blood … this is the bread that has come from heaven
come from heaven …
Jesus is claiming that he is unique – he is what no other human before or after can say – he is from heaven – what he says and who he is and therefore worthy of acceptance
eat my flesh, drink my blood
acknowledging who he is (ie head knowledge) is only the start. To receive this gift of the bread of life we have to eat and drink of him. While this obviously has references to communion it is far more than just symbolism. To receive God’s gift of life (today and for eternity) we have to Jesus into ourselves (‘eat’ and ‘drink’) we have to feed upon him, allow him to become our sustenance. Just as Jesus lives in God in that close relationship, we have to live in Jesus – let his being be our very being.
This is not just some spiritual feeling – this is hardcore business of following Jesus. Showing love where there is hate, proclaiming justice where there is injustice, not being afraid to being an offense to Governments and authorities and most of all rejecting the bland bread and grape juice of modern western Christianity and wanting the real ‘flesh and blood’ of Jesus. Wanting the Jesus who rejected the legalism of the Pharisees and the insitution of the Saducees. who proclaimed a God who was active and involved in the life of all people, not just ‘good’ people, but called all people to a new life, a new community a community of life and faith.
We need more cannibals for Jesus!
People who take Jesus seriously and don’t want the bread and grape juice but want the flesh and blood. Let me give you a concrete example …
Jesus said blessed are the peacemakers … yet if you believe some people being a good christian is rolling over and accepting good ol’ George and co when they tell us that God wants us to make war. Then they lie about Revelation and say that the beast will come in the form of someone bringing world peace … (read Rev ch 13 and find that …) and so they turn the words of Jesus on their head.
Now rather than being cannibals who are an affront to power and authorities we have a nice bread and grape juice christianity who accept almost anything from the Government – as long as they say ‘I believe in Jesus!’.
Grape Juice. Give me the flesh and blood Jesus who wasn’t afraid to offend those who wanted a popular hero, or those in power.
‘Eat my flesh, drink my blood – come and live with me forever!’
Amen.
Soul Food Application – Enjoying Intimate Relationship with God
Often we think of intimate relationship as some fuzzy spiritual feeling (and sometimes in can involve that) – but there is nothing as intimate as eating the flesh and drinking the blood of someone!
Jesus doesn’t just want your spiritual feelings – he wants you to eat and drink from him.
Questions for Reflection
- How often do you settle for a bread and grape juice Jesus rather than a flesh and blood Jesus?
- How are you trying to ‘feed’ on Jesus – make him your sustenance and way of life?
- Where is Jesus calling you to be someone who might offend others through taking a stand?