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Focus Text: John 6.53-58

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly [literally: Amen, Amen!], I say to 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 him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven——not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.’” (John 6.53-58).

The opening sentence of today’s focus text specifies an action that is absolutely essential to having life in ourselves. Whatever “…eat[ing] the flesh of the Son of Man and drink[ing] His blood” means, it is necessary if we are to have life. A literal translation of this text would read, “Amen! Amen! I say to you unless you eat the flesh… and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” Jesus “flagged” the importance of this statement with two “Amens” as He uttered it; most would agree, it is an important text!

The answer to this “riddle of a passage” is in the immediate context. Notice that Jesus talked about eating, drinking, food, and bread. These are essentials of life; without them we die. However, the people to whom Jesus was speaking knew these facts all too well. In fact, they had gone to great lengths to find Him just so they could avail themselves of the physical food which He had the ability to provide. They knew of His ability to feed them from the previous day’s events when He had miraculously fed well over 5000 people from the meager lunch of a lad. It was this desire for the physical that moved them to seek Him, and it was their desire that prompted Him to say, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.” (John 6.26). To make His point complete, He added, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you…” (John 6.27).

With this background, Jesus turned from their want of physical food to their unrecognized need for spiritual food. Their emphasis was ill-placed in that they went to great lengths to meet the physical wants, but virtually ignored the spiritual necessities – even when the means to satisfy their need for life stood right before their eyes. His exhortation was an attempt to move their focus away from the mundane and toward the non-material realities of life both now and into eternity. The eating and drinking of His flesh and of His blood was obviously figurative and meant merely to embrace and follow His teachings. Of course, fundamental to those teachings was the requirement to love Him, to trust Him, and to manifest that love and trust in all that they did. Whoever responds in this manner, “abides in Him” and hence “lives forever.”

The beauty of this text is seen in the lives of those who listened to His call and obeyed (such as His apostles and disciples). The words are sweet, but submission to them is much, much sweeter!

Questions:

1. Why point out the fact that their fathers ate of manna and died? What contrast is offered?

2. What is the difference in the life which Jesus offered and the life which they could obtain through material means? What is the relative worth of the two “types” of life?

3. How does one “abide” in Jesus? How does that expression compare with the idea of spiritual faithfulness? Do the faithful literally abide in Jesus, or is this also a figure?

4. Does the possession of eternal life mean that we will not die physically? Why or why not?

"The Way" from Kevin Pauley

A World of One