Please pass the fried Jesus?
John 6:53 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.
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
A hard teaching indeed! Especially if you take it only at face value. Sounds like cannibalism and vampires to me. How about you? Well we know Jesus was neither advocating nor promoting that so let's go a little deeper. In verse 51 Jesus equates his flesh with bread. John 6:51 "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 we look at bread. Bread is a staple in almost every part of the world. From the most rich and sophisticated societies to the poorest and primitive. It is easy to make and will keep even a starving person alive. We will come back to bread in a minute.
John tells us from the start that the Word became flesh and that the Word is God. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. ....14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Just a moment ago we stated that Jesus equated his flesh to that of bread. Common sense then dictates (forgive the Jeffersonism) that the Word can also be equated with bread and it keeps in line with the rest of the Gospel of John. OK. If you follow my direction you can see that the next thing to talk about is eating.
Have you ever heard of the old cliché "You are what you eat?" I am no physiologist but I do know some basics and for the most part that is a fairly true statement. We know that globally, bread is a very basic food. We eat and digest the bread and it becomes part of us. If we apply that to Jesus, if we eat and digest the Word, it/He becomes a part of us. You might then ask how do we eat the Word? First we believe. The bread, the simple food is Christ sacrificing his life for us so that we can have our sins forgiven and have right relationship with God. Our starving and dying souls are saved. Then we listen to and study the Word of God in the Bible. His flesh, the Word, is our bread, our spiritual food. The more we eat it the more we become like it, like Christ.
But what about the blood?! Well what about it? Just kidding. Let's talk about blood. Blood brings oxygen and nutrients to our cells and organs and brain and keeps us alive. It also carries away the waste. It brings the organisms to fight infections and sickness. Without it we perish. Jesus said drink his blood. Did he mean to actually drink his blood? Did he want us to become vampires? By no means! (I know, I know but I can't help lapsing into Paul) So where was he going with that? Where am I going with that? OK. I already stated that we cannot survive without blood. The life of Christ the human, was his blood. Our lives must have the life of Christ in us or we cannot live. The whole of chapter 6 leads up to this. How do we drink his blood? Believe. John 6:26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to BELIEVE in the one he has sent.” (emphasis mine) When we eat his flesh AND drink his blood. We start by believing in the one the Father sent. Read chapter 6 of John and connect the dots. Christ through John did this for us. The life of Christ, the flesh of Christ, the bread of life all comes down to believing as we believe and eat and digest Christ he becomes a part of us and we live. As we become more like Christ in our daily living his life, his blood courses through our veins. Our souls get nourished our spirits are given new life.
Was it a hard saying? No. It was simple. Believe and allow that which is the life of Christ, his flesh, his blood, become you.
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
A hard teaching indeed! Especially if you take it only at face value. Sounds like cannibalism and vampires to me. How about you? Well we know Jesus was neither advocating nor promoting that so let's go a little deeper. In verse 51 Jesus equates his flesh with bread. John 6:51 "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 we look at bread. Bread is a staple in almost every part of the world. From the most rich and sophisticated societies to the poorest and primitive. It is easy to make and will keep even a starving person alive. We will come back to bread in a minute.
John tells us from the start that the Word became flesh and that the Word is God. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. ....14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Just a moment ago we stated that Jesus equated his flesh to that of bread. Common sense then dictates (forgive the Jeffersonism) that the Word can also be equated with bread and it keeps in line with the rest of the Gospel of John. OK. If you follow my direction you can see that the next thing to talk about is eating.
Have you ever heard of the old cliché "You are what you eat?" I am no physiologist but I do know some basics and for the most part that is a fairly true statement. We know that globally, bread is a very basic food. We eat and digest the bread and it becomes part of us. If we apply that to Jesus, if we eat and digest the Word, it/He becomes a part of us. You might then ask how do we eat the Word? First we believe. The bread, the simple food is Christ sacrificing his life for us so that we can have our sins forgiven and have right relationship with God. Our starving and dying souls are saved. Then we listen to and study the Word of God in the Bible. His flesh, the Word, is our bread, our spiritual food. The more we eat it the more we become like it, like Christ.
But what about the blood?! Well what about it? Just kidding. Let's talk about blood. Blood brings oxygen and nutrients to our cells and organs and brain and keeps us alive. It also carries away the waste. It brings the organisms to fight infections and sickness. Without it we perish. Jesus said drink his blood. Did he mean to actually drink his blood? Did he want us to become vampires? By no means! (I know, I know but I can't help lapsing into Paul) So where was he going with that? Where am I going with that? OK. I already stated that we cannot survive without blood. The life of Christ the human, was his blood. Our lives must have the life of Christ in us or we cannot live. The whole of chapter 6 leads up to this. How do we drink his blood? Believe. John 6:26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to BELIEVE in the one he has sent.” (emphasis mine) When we eat his flesh AND drink his blood. We start by believing in the one the Father sent. Read chapter 6 of John and connect the dots. Christ through John did this for us. The life of Christ, the flesh of Christ, the bread of life all comes down to believing as we believe and eat and digest Christ he becomes a part of us and we live. As we become more like Christ in our daily living his life, his blood courses through our veins. Our souls get nourished our spirits are given new life.
Was it a hard saying? No. It was simple. Believe and allow that which is the life of Christ, his flesh, his blood, become you.
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