What Did Jesus Mean by Eating His Flesh and Drinking His Blood? (John 6:53-56)

There are many statements that Jesus made which may seem a bit confusing to begin with. One of them would be his requirement that we need to eat his flesh and drink his blood. I don’t think it is that difficult to understand once we spend some time thinking about it. This may have been one of the reasons why Jesus used such descriptions. He wanted his hearers to think seriously about the various claims that he was making. What did Jesus mean when he said that anyone could eat his flesh and drink his blood? Clearly he is not suggesting a form of cannibalism, although that is how some of his initial hearers understood his words. Instead he was referring to a spiritual activity, but even once we recognise that we find there is more than one suggestion made.

One common suggestion that is made is that Jesus was referring to the Lord's Supper. I would say that there are four arguments against such a meaning. First, and obviously, he would not have referred to something that had not yet begun. The Lord’s Supper was not inaugurated until later on in the earthly life of Jesus, during the Passover meal held on the evening of his arrest after his betrayal by Judas. It would have been meaningless to his hearers for him to have referred to something that did not yet exist. Second, the Lord’s Supper is a communal activity whereas the activity described here by Jesus is an individual action between a person and himself. Third, Jesus here is not speaking to believers, but to unbelievers, and the Lord’s Supper is not designed for them. Fourth, Jesus promised there that salvation would be the outcome of someone eating his flesh and drinking his blood and that is never the outcome of participating in the Lord’s Supper. So those four reasons indicate that he was not referring to the Lord’s Supper. Since that is the case, what then was he claiming?

A dramatic claim

Jesus is contrasting himself with the manna that God provided miraculously for the children of Israel six days a week for four decades during their wanderings in the wilderness after they had been delivered by him from the state of slavery in Egypt. It would be difficult to find a greater miracle in the Old Testament with which to compare oneself. There were other notable miracles, but this one lasted for forty years. Of course, there were other miracles that lasted for that period of time such as the pillar of fire and pillar of cloud that was present with the Israelites, and also the water from the rock that kept on flowing. It is possible to see how each of them depicts Jesus. And in choosing this particular sign to illustrate his abilities Jesus was saying that what he can give to rebellious sinners is greater than what the rebellious Israelites received from God.

A divine claim

Yet how could a person make such a claim? We are reminded of the trilemma of C. S. Lewis about Jesus. Someone who makes such statements about himself must be mad, bad or true. Of course, in the case of Jesus, this statement is only one of many in which he states that he has divine abilities. So this is an astounding claim that points to the obvious conclusion that Jesus knew he was God and was therefore able to make such astounding claims.

A daring claim

Jesus did not make this announcement in the cozy environment of devout disciples. Instead he states it to those who were opposed to him and did not believe he was the promised Messiah. Why did Jesus do this? One answer would be that all who will ever participate in the benefits he gives come from the category of his opponents, that at some stage in their lives they were opposed to him. Every one of his disciples, in any period of history, began life detached from Jesus in a spiritual sense. In addition to that aspect we can also say that Jesus spoke in this way because he wanted them to become his disciples. He knew that what he would provide would be for their benefit if they would only do what he requested. Their refusal to acknowledge him did not mean that he did not want them to confess him as the Messiah.

A definite claim

In making this announcement, Jesus was stating that he alone could satisfy the spiritual hunger of the human heart. Just as there is a range of food that meets the needs of the body, so only he can meet the needs of the soul. He was saying to his hearers that whatever they were currently imbibing would not satisfy them. At one level, this is a very startling claim because they were mainly followers of the Jewish faith, people who knew the contents of the Bible, followed its requirements, and used its contents in their worship. Yet because in was done without reference to Jesus, it did not satisfy them. Everyone has to use something to try and fulfil the needs of their souls. Nothing that people will try can provide what Jesus offers here for soul satisfaction.

A dignified claim

We can see the dignity of his claim in his use of the title Son of Man. As we saw last week, this is a title of Jesus that does more than state his humanity. In addition it is a self-chosen name that reveals the greatness of his dignity. It is a title that says that Jesus is the Lord of creation (from Psalm 8), the spokesman for God (as depicted in the case of Ezekiel), the ruler of God’s kingdom (as longed for in Psalm 80), and the inheritor of the eternal kingdom yet to be set up (as prophesied in Daniel 7). I suppose its use here could be likened to a wealthy person inviting others to come and discover who he is and what his resources are. And he shows his bigness by stressing that he is able to satisfy all of them.

A described claim

Jesus uses an illustration to show what he has in mind. The illustration is a simple one drawn from everyday life, that of eating a meal. How do people eat a meal? There are three stages, we can say. It has to be prepared, eaten and digested.

With regard to Jesus we can say that he was prepared or provided by God the Father. It was the Father who planned that his Son should come into the world and become the spiritual food that sinners could feast their souls on. This plan is an eternal one and not a sudden spur of the moment.

As far as the eating is concerned, we know that a good cook will put a variety of different items in the meal. Similarly, with regard to Jesus, there is a wide range of aspects that can be taken at any given time. We can feast on his deity, or on his willingness to become a man in order to save us. We can feast on his attributes, such as power, wisdom and presence. Or we can focus on his many names, thinking about them one at a time and turning them over in our minds. Moreover, there will be times when we need particular items. If we have confessed our sins, we should think about his forgiveness; if we are a bit confused with life, we should think about his promise to lead us as the good shepherd. There is a wide range of features of Jesus that we can eat in a spiritual sense.

In a healthy person, the food they eat is digested and becomes part of them, enabling them to function. Something similar happens in the Christian life. The more we eat of Jesus, the spiritually stronger we become, the spiritually loving we become, the spiritually joyful we become, and so on. This digestion, in a spiritual manner, is performed by the Holy Spirit who makes these feastings on Jesus become transformative in our souls.

Of course, unlike our usual response to food, which is to eat it and then forget about it, with regard to feeding on Jesus we have to turn over in our minds who he is and what he can do. We can do this by biblical meditation, which is the opposite of letting our minds go blank.

A dependable claim

Under this heading, I want us to focus on the sure consequences of feeding on Jesus. In the context Jesus mentions two outcomes, one in this life and the other in the next. In this life, Jesus says, an individual who does so will have a very close relationship with him, a relationship that he describes by using the word ‘abide’, which suggests that he is at home, a place where there is fellowship and sharing, where the residents are comfortable with one another, where they are content with one another. This is one of the amazing features of the salvation that Jesus provides, which is that he and each sinner loves one another’s company. Jesus also describes the experience by the term ‘life’, a reminder that it is satisfying.

As far as the future is concerned, Jesus says that the consequence of having a relationship with him in time is that he will remember all such on the last day and will raise them from the dead in order to experience and enjoy the riches of the fullness of eternal life. They have foretastes of that life now, but much more in the world to come. Because of Jesus they will live forever.

I hope we have seen that Jesus’s illustration is not that difficult to understand. Hopefully each of us is feeding our souls on himself, in the many ways in which he can be feasted on.