NOT GETTING IT

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

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. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the Bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this Bread will live forever.”

He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

John 6:52-59

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Sometimes, things people say can have two meanings.

For example, my wife’s name is Grace and anyone who knows me will know I tell everyone that Grace is her middle name because her first name is…wait for it…”Amazing”. There’s definitely a lot deeper significance for me to say it on the surface because of what she had been to me in my life. That’s another story for another day but let’s say the Lord bringing her into my life was absolutely amazing in what changes happened afterwards.

Anyways, back to the point I want to make.

For if I say that the Lord has given me grace, it carries with it two truths: one literal and the other figurative or metaphorical.

In the literal regard, He has given me grace through salvation by way of His Son, forgiving me from my sins when I don’t deserve it. His action is the very definition of grace.

Conversely, in the figurative sense, He has given me my wife Grace, a blessed companion to serve Him with.

In both cases, He has given me grace but only one is literal in nature.

Why the discussion?

Because in today’s scripture verses from our continued study of John 6, we find Jesus speaking figuratively to His Jewish audience who as you will see, don’t get that He is not speaking literally. Look again at these words here:

Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

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. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the Bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this Bread will live forever.”

He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.  John 6:52-59

What were the Jews arguing about?

It was what Jesus said right before this passage picks up:

“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.” John 6:51

It was a completely new concept to begin with for the Jewish audience, this matter of Jesus being the Bread of Life, sent by God from heaven. It was one they had a hard time understanding because Jesus wasn’t saying He was actually bread. Everyone could see that. And so there was no way He was speaking in literal terms. No one was really going to eat Jesus because He wasn’t bread. He was only speaking metaphorically.

Now if the Jews could have just grasped that, then perhaps they wouldn’t have found themselves in an argument in the first place. But they didn’t and the problem only became amplified when Jesus said this:

“This Bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

The Jews were like, wait a minute, Jesus said that whoever ate the bread would live forever and the bread was His flesh so does this mean we need to all go cannibalistic just to gain eternal life?

“How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

Obviously, they took Jesus literally when He was speaking figuratively. They weren’t getting it. For when Jesus was talking about eating His flesh and drinking His blood, He was really meaning that someone had to be completely and totally in and with Him in order to find their way to salvation. Anyone who invested in Jesus (“eating His flesh” and “drinking His blood”) would remain in Him and He in them.

To differentiate between Himself and the Israelite ancestors of the Jews He was addressing, Jesus reminded the Jews that the bread from heaven that they had been given did not lead them to eternal life. Rather, they died. Conversely, anyone who would “consume” Jesus in their lives would live forever.

It was true then and it’s still true today…and for those who get it, who understand that one can only be saved by Jesus and that He is the only way to the Father (John 14:6), glory in eternity awaits, a glory that will make one grateful that they took in the Bread of Life when the opportunity presented itself.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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