6:52-59 “The one who feeds on me”

March 5, 2021

Read John 6:52-59

The thought of “eating” this bread which is his “flesh” (6:51) puzzled his Jewish listeners (52) and it can confuse Christians too. It’s understandable that the language of “eat his flesh” and “drink his blood” (53-54) makes us think of the communion service but this is unlikely to be what Jesus taught about to Jews in a synagogue (59). Nor is taking communion an absolute condition of salvation yet unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood, we will not have eternal life. Also, the aorist tense is used in verse 53 and this indicates a single action in the past.

Rather, Jesus was using vivid language to clarify the meaning of “I am the bread of life” and of what it means to believe in him (6:35,47-48). The words “flesh” and “blood” emphasise that his sacrificial death is the basis of eternal life, and the words “eat” and “drink” show that it is essential (“Very truly”) for people to receive Jesus into the innermost part of their being in order to have his life in them (53-54). Eating and drinking were a familiar metaphor of that (Jer.15:16).

This act of faith and commitment in response to Jesus’s death (54-55) brings believers into a lasting relationship with Jesus (56) in which they will live forever (57-58). In these verses, “eats” and “feeds” the tense has changed from the aorist to the present i.e. the believer must eat continuously. Even though there must be an initial act of eating, this is only the beginning of an on-going relationship in which the believer stays close to Jesus by feeding on his life. When that is understood, then hearing these words in a communion service helps us do that, calling us back to renewed commitment to Jesus, feeding on him by faith in our hearts.