The Hard Sayings: Eat My Flesh; Drink My Blood

Text: John 6:1-14; 32-60

Theme: One of the hard sayings of Jesus is the command to eat my flesh and drink my blood. By it Jesus means that his life is to be the source of our life.

Anyone who has ever read through the four gospels knows that Jesus said some hard things. Some are hard because they are difficult to understand. Some are hard because they are difficult to do. F.F. Bruce, in his book on the topic, lists seventy hard sayings of Jesus. Now the good news is that we’re not going to spend eighteen months on Sunday night looking at these hard sayings. I have chosen one-dozen to look at that’ll probably take us through the end of February or early March. Tonight, we begin with the hardest of the hard sayings of Jesus.

In this chapter Jesus tells his disciples “I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”” (John 6:48–51, ESV)

What are we supposed to do with this. It’s an astonishing statement that Jesus doubles down on in vs. 53-56.

“So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” (John 6:53–56, ESV)

When Jesus said, eat my body and drink my blood he set off a firestorm of controversy that has not abated to this day. Even then it was the cause for many of his disciples abandoning him (John 6:66). Two thousand years after he said it, the Body of Christ remains divided over weather-or-not we are to take these words literally or figuratively. Catholics and Orthodox groups take it literally and believe that when the priest blesses the Communion host, the essence of the bread and wine literally become the body and blood of Jesus Christ though they retain the outward form of bread and wine. Most Protestant groups take the view that Jesus was speaking metaphorically. Eating his flesh and drinking his blood means that his physical life, given up on the cross, becomes the source of our spiritual life.

Like many of the hard sayings of Jesus it’s difficult to understand their meaning before the events of his passion week. It was after his death and resurrection that many of the things he said make sense. That is true of our text this evening.

The Reasonable Question

The Revelation of Truth

The Reluctant Crowd

The Repulsive Statement

I. THE REASONABLE QUESTION vs. 25-28

“When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”” (John 6:25–28, ESV)

1. Jesus’ discourse on the consumption of his flesh and blood comes on the heals of one of the most astounding miracles of his ministry — the feeding of the 5,000

ILLUS. Feeding 5,000 with a few fish and a few loaves of bread is indeed miraculous. But if you carefully read the text, Jesus probably fed way more than 5,000. The text tells us that it was 5,000 men, meaning that the gospel writers are only counting heads of families. Were many of the men there by themselves? Probably. But it’s extremely possible that Jesus actually fed anywhere between 15-20 thousand people. Now that little tidbit will set your heart to racing.

a. it made such an impression on the disciples that it is one of the few miracles recounted by all four evangelists of the four gospels

b. it’s an extraordinary display of supernatural power, but also an extraordinary display of God’s abundant grace and loving benevolence

1) God wants the empty to be full ... and as we will discover not full with merely physical bread

2. the early part of chapter six sets the scene for us

Large crowds are following Jesus because they saw the miracles he was doing on the sick (6:2)

Jesus went up a hillside and began to teach the disciple, and as he is doing to a large crowd is ascending to where they are ... the disciple Philip wonders out loud “How are going to feed all these people?”

They find a boy whose brought a box lunch which Jesus blesses, and every time Jesus reaches into the box (OK, probably a bag) he pulls out copious amounts of bread and fish — and everyone ate as much as they wanted to the point were the are absolutely full.

The people see the miracles and begin to say among themselves, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving that the crowd is about to take him by force, march on Jerusalem and enthrone him as king, Jesus slips away from the crowd.

That evening he tells his disciples to row across the lake to Capernaum and he will meet them there. The disciples launch out, but before long a storm whips the sea into a frenzy, the disciples are afraid — until, that is, they see Jesus walking on the water toward them.

The next morning, when the crowd can’t find Jesus or the disciples they assume they’ve gone across the lake and follow. They find him right where the thought he would be.

This sets up the discourse where Jesus is going to say one of the most controversial things he ever said.

A. SEEKING JESUS FOR THE WRONG REASON

1. when the crowds find him, Jesus is blunt ...

“Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” (John 6:26, ESV)

a. if you follow Christ for any other reason than a pure love for him and his redemptive work in your life, you’re following Jesus for the wrong reason

2. the crowds following Jesus see him as a means to an end ... full stomachs and healed bodies

a. even today, many folks see Jesus as a means to an end

1) he can help you in life ... improve your broken marriage ... inject some much needed morality ... provide a new set of friends ... give hope ... make you feel better ... and perhaps even give you a purpose statement to enjoy your best life now

ILLUS. This is why the Prosperity Gospel is so dangerous. Jesus becomes a means to bring about a thoroughly selfish, and dare I say, idolatrous end.

3. Jesus is not a vehicle to anything other than the enjoyment of his own perfection

a. we don’t come to Jesus as a connecting flight to our own exaltation but rather the final destination in the unmitigated divine exaltation

ILLUS. The Westminster Confession of 1646 is the great, great grandfather of our own Baptist Faith and message. The Westminster Catechism is a way of teaching the confession to Christians. The first question of the catechism is ...

Question 1. What is the chief end of man?

Answer. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.

b. for the Christian life really is that simple

1) which means loving Jesus, and serving Jesus, and following Jesus for any other reason than to glorify him and adore him and enjoy his fellowship is to use him as a means to an end

4. Jesus is not a vehicle to anything other than the enjoyment of his own perfection

B. SEEKING JESUS FOR THE RIGHT REASON

“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”” (John 6:27, ESV)

1. the stuff the crowd is seeking for is stuff that will perish

a. let’s be honest the vast majority of the stuff we own will perish

1) according to Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount it’ll wear out or rust out or be taken away

b. that doesn’t mean that those things are unimportant

1) Jesus says that the Father knows we have need for stuff, we just need to keep the stuff in perspective

2) Jesus and his coming Kingdom must be the ultimate focus of the believer’s life

2. Jesus points the crowd in this chapter to things that are eternal — but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you

3. their response to this is the reasonable question

“Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”” (John 6:28, ESV)

a. in life some questions are always more important than others, and questions about God and eternity are always the most important

4. as we’re about to see what we’re willing to give up to be doing the works of God is of supreme importance

... the People Asked a Reasonable Question

II. THE REVELATION OF TRUTH vs. 29-40

“Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”” (John 6:29, ESV)

1. any time we hear someone ask Jesus “What must I do ... ?” Jesus always replies believe and obey and follow

a. in Mark’s gospel a rich young ruler comes to Jesus asking “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

1) Jesus’ response is sell all that you’ve got and follow me

b. in Luke’s gospel a Scribe who knows the Torah backwards and forwards, asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

1) Jesus says to live out the Great Commandment which the guy is really not willing to do if it means loving his neighbor as God does

c. here in John’s gospel the crowd, almost with one voice, asks “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”

2. the work that Jesus is calling them to in vs. 29 is faith, but the crowd is taking Jesus in a literal sense — his meaning just goes right over their heads

a. the work of faith is the work of receiving the gift of God which is Christ, himself

3. what Jesus tells them does not sit well with them

a. they understand what Jesus is claiming and demanding — he’s claiming the Messianic title Son of Man and is telling them that they must believe on the One whom the Father has sent, i.e. him!

b. their immediate response is “ ... “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?” (John 6:30, ESV)

1) had not Jesus performed many signs?

2) wasn’t the multiplication of the bread-cakes and fish on the preceding day a glorious sign?

c. their response is “Bread? Big deal. Moses gave us bread in the wilderness every day for forty years,” and then they quote Psalm 78:24 “He gave them bread from heaven to eat”

1) their argument? “Now if you can do something like THAT we might believe you’re the One whom God has sent to us”

A. JESUS DROPS THE BOMBSHELL

1. Jesus had come to give them bread — just not the kind of bread they were thinking of

a. the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand is not just a miracle Jesus performed because the people were hungry and in need, but it’s a miracle that he uses to come to this very moment of dialogue

b. Jesus tells them ...

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”” (John 6:51, ESV)

2. with two-thousand years of theological hindsight, we “get that” — Jesus is talking about his atoning work on the cross where he gives up his life that sinner may have eternal life

a. his body was broken for us, and by his stripes we are healed

3. but his listeners then balked

“The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”” (John 6:52, ESV)

a. Jesus, as we say, doubled-down on his assertion

“So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” (John 6:53–55, ESV)

b. the “Jesus for King” campaign evaporated

1) this man must be crazy!

4. bread will satisfy for a time, but Jesus will satisfy for eternity

B. JESUS IS THE MANNA THAT FILLS THE SOUL AND SATISFIES COMPLETELY

vv. 32-35 "Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' 'Sir,' they said, 'from now on give us this bread.' Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never by thirsty."

1. in a spiritual sense, Jesus wants men to "pig out" on him

2. wheat bread fills the stomach, but only satisfies in the short term

3. the Bread of Life—Jesus Christ—fills the soul and satisfies for all eternity

a. just as wheat bread must be eaten and assimilated into the body to sustain physical life, so Jesus Christ must be assimilated into our heart and life if He is to sustain our eternal life

“I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:47–51, NIV84)

4. is physical bread important?

a. of course it is, if you don't eat, you're going to die physically

b. the spiritual truth is just as real, if you don't eat the Bread of Life, you're going to die spiritually

III. THE RELUCTANT CROWD vs. vs. 41-42

“At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”” (John 6:41–42, NIV84)

1. I read this and I think The more things change the more they stay the same

a. the Jews here are reminiscing with great fondness the history of their forefathers

“Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written He gave them bread from heaven to eat” (John 6:31)

b. yes ... and you fathers grumbled about the manna regularly

they grumbled about the manna

they grumbled about Moses and Aaron

they grumbled about God!

““How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites.” (Numbers 14:27, NIV84)

c. the forefathers of these grumblers set a precedent by complaining before the manna was provided and after they received it!

2. fifteen hundred years later they’re grumbling that Jesus won’t pull more bread out of his magic bag, and when Jesus attempts to draw their attention to spiritual realities they grumble about his message

a. it is not so much his claim to be bread that offends them as his claim to be bread from heaven, his claim that he came down from heaven

b. how could this be so, when his family had moved to Capernaum and he was known there … isn’t this Jesus bar Joseph? Don’t we know who his parents were?

3. they are reluctant to receive his words

a. they are reluctant because their hearts are hard and their minds are closed, and unless God opens them they will never understand what Jesus is saying

A. ONLY THE CALLED WILL COME

1. vs. 44 is almost as controversial as the entire dialogue

““No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:44, NIV84)

a. until God calls by His Spirit, convicting the sinner of sin, judgement and righteousness men will always grumble about God’s plan of salvation

ILLUS. The early Church Father, Augustine, called God the “Hound of Heaven” who relentlessly tracks Augustine down, and draws Augustine to himself. God made Augustine, and God made us, too, for himself. But we run the other way. And our restless hearts propel us in the opposite direction.

2. salvation is never achieved apart from the drawing power of God, and it is never consummated apart from the willingness of humans to hear and learn from God

IV. THE REPULSIVE STATEMENT vs. 49-59

1. here is where Jesus doubles-down on what he has previously said and the Jews find it absolutely repulsive

a. Jesus bluntly tells them to eat my flesh and drink my blood ... there is no ambiguity in what he said

1) the crowd doesn’t ask, “Say that again. Surely we didn’t hear you correctly. We thought we heard you say to eat my flesh and drink my blood, but surely that can’t be right.”

2. a hint of what Jesus is driving at, for those who are listening carefully, is found in vs. 51

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”” (John 6:51, NIV84)

a. one can talk in general terms about eating the bread of life; it is quite another matter to say, this bread is my flesh

A. FAITH IS SPIRITUAL APPROPRIATION OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST

1. Jesus is telling the crowds that have followed him expecting more bread, “Your fathers at bread in the wilderness. It was supplied by your heavenly Father, and by it He sustained their lives. Because they physically appropriated the manna they lived. But those who ate it still died. My life is the true bread of heaven, and if you spiritually appropriate me, you will have abundant life and eternal life.”

IV. LESSONS

A. FOR THE LOST

ILLUS. The proverbial saying 'You are what you eat' is the notion that to be fit and healthy you need to eat good food. The phrase has come to into the English language by quite a meandering route. In 1826, the French lawyer Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote, Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are. In an essay titled Concerning Spiritualism and Materialism, Ludwig Feuerbach wrote: Man is what he eats. Neither men meant their quotations to be taken literally. They were stating that the food one eats has a bearing on one's state of mind and health.

1. the same is true of a man’s spiritual life

a. if a man eats spiritual junk food it will be revealed in his life and soul

B. FOR THE SAVED

1. Jesus teaches us that we need to follow him for who he is and not just for what he can do for us

vv. 60, 66 "On hearing it, many of his disciples said, 'This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?' From this time many of his disciple turned back and no longer followed him."

2. Jesus was very clear

a. if people were following Him for what He could do for them and not for who they believed Him to be, they were going to be disappointed

3. there is a growing movement in our country labeled the Prosperity Gospel

ILLUS. Pastor John Bisagno, First Baptist Church of Houston, Texas, was the first to refer to it as Name-It-and-Claim-It theology.

4. it's the idea that God rewards our faith with pennies or dimes or dollars or material abundance

a. it's a doctrine that sounds really good

b. today’s popular TV evangelists seek to persuade us that if we can somehow get God on our side prosperity is automatic

1) if you’re a Christian ... God is on your side ... that doesn’t necessarily mean prosperity

c. it's an idea not too different from the mentality of those following Jesus because He fed them

1) they were not interested in giving their life to the Son of God

2) all they were interested in was what this miracle worker could do for them

3) the Psalmist wrote, "Delight yourself in the Lord. . ." he did not say, "Delight yourself in the things of the Lord – only the Lord."

5. Jesus told his hearers, "I am the Bread of Life"

a. notice that he did not say, "I am the filet mignon of life"

ILLUS. Bread, you see, was the staple of life in that day. It was the main part of every meal. It was eaten at breakfast, lunch and dinner. There were many food items that a family could do without. Bread was not one of them. Without bread to eat a family would starve.

6. I hope the point is obvious

a. Jesus is teaching that He is the staple of our spiritual life

b. there are lots of things we can do without — Jesus is not one of them

What do you want from God? What do you expect from Him? Earthly things? The things of this life?

Or do you want more? Do you want the things of and for eternal life? Do you want the Bread of eternal life that feeds and nourishes us for all eternity?

All who partake of the Bread of Life – His Son, Jesus Christ – will be fulfilled and eternally satisfied. They shall never die!