Sermon Series: Jesus Said What?!

Sermon Title: You want me to eat what!

In this sermon series we will be talking about some of the difficult sayings of Jesus during His time when He walked the earth in flesh and blood.

To me one of the most astounding of Jesus’ sayings deals with eating.  Now I love to eat, in fact if you from the south you know that it is common to be talking about your next meal while eating a meal.  

Most of our culture is built around eating and being together.

Eating has always been a common thing that brings people together, even in Jesus’s day.  Eating is essential to life if we do not eat then we will die. 

To set the scene of our story today, Jesus had just fed the multitude which consisted of 5000 men plus women and children with only 5 loaves of bread and two fish.  He miraculously multiplied it so that everyone had plenty to eat.  But this miracle was a precursor to some deeper spiritual truths which He would speak on the following day. 

When they ate of the bread which Jesus multiplied, they were filled and satisfied physically.  However, Jesus was the bread from heaven who would satisfy their soul. 

So just a few verses down Jesus says the most astonishing thing to this same crowd.

John 6:53-55

⁵³ 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. 

If we were to read this verse only, we would think that Jesus is promoting cannibalism as He states the way to have life is to “feed on my flesh and drink my blood.” Which would have been very repulsive to the thousands of Jewswho were there.   For in the laws of Moses it was forbidden to eat meat while it still contained the blood of the animal.  (Lev. 19:26) It was also repulsive to eat other humans. So how much more repulsive it would be these Jews to eat Jesus and drink His blood. 

Did Jesus mean this in a literal sense?

Thankfully there are other verses prior to this which help us to understand what it is that Jesus is saying.

John 6:32-34

³² Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 

If you recall, when the Lord delivered His people from Egypt, he brought them on a forty-year journey through the wilderness to the land of Canaan, the promised land.  During their procession, The Lord fed “bread from heaven”also known as manna.  We are told that manna “was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey” 

It was free food which the Lord rained down from heaven.  This food would not only satisfy but sustain them while they were on their journey.  They were not to hoard the bread but were to only take enough for that day.  They were to rely on the Lord each day to provide for their daily needs.

They ate the bread, and they were filled. Though not everyone who ate of the bread made it to the promised land.  Consequently, many of them died off before arriving to the promised land because of their rebellion. 

It is also safe to say that by the time that Jesus is instructing the crowds that all those who had originally eaten of the bread of heaven had passed away.  Because here is the thing, one day every person will die and meet their maker. 

So, the bread that they ate to sustain them physically was insufficient to sustain them spiritually.  So, it was with the 5 loaves and two fish.  Sure, it would sustain them physically, but only Jesus could sustain them spiritually.  He is everything that they need.

Jesus tells them

³³ For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴ They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Here we are told exactly what the bread of God is; It is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.  

Bread (artos) the divine who comes from heaven, who containing in himself the source of heavenly life supplies celestial nutriment to souls that they may attain to life eternal.

Bread sustains life and Jesus is the bread of God who comes to give life to the world.  Up to this point this seems like a nice way of saying what he is about to say regarding eating his flesh. 

However, this was a hard saying for those who were there that day. Jesus was proclaiming to be sent from God as life to all.  Some would remain in their unbelief, thus the reason Jesus would be even more direct and clarify exactly what He means.

John 6:41-42

⁴¹ So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 

To ensure that all understood Him plainly, He says “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” If you want eternal life, then it is through Him.  If you are lacking spiritually then the substance you need is Jesus.  If you are lacking emotionally, you need Jesus let Him satisfy you. If you are broken, You need Jesus to make you whole.  Eat of Him, only He can sustain you.

• How do we do that?
• What does it mean to eat of Him?
• How do we practically apply this to our lives?

John 6:47-57)

⁴⁷ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ 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.

Eating is Believing

Jesus gives us some clarity on what it means to eat of Him.

• ⁴⁷ Whoever believes has eternal life
• ^51b If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever

The two sentences are saying the same thing.  In other words, to eat of the bread that came from heaven, Jesus, is to believe that Jesus was sent from the Father in heaven for the liberation of mankind, through the cross.  Eating is believing.

We are saved by God’s grace and faith in Jesus Christ.  This revelation is health to our spirit and leads to eternal life with God. Believing in Jesus leads to eternal life.

Furthermore, for ordinary bread to become something that sustains life, it must first be broken down and swallowed up.

For the “bread from heaven” Jesus to become life to us, He too must first be broken at the cross and even swallowed up by the grave.  So, in the hearing of all who had gathered, He foretells that He is about to lay down his life so that all who would believe in him might have everlasting life.

^51b And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Even after clearly telling His audience that He was the bread of heaven, and that believing on him was equal to eating the bread, after telling them that he would lay down His life so that all who believes in Him would have eternal life, their hearts were still hardened.

⁵² The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 

They are still wanting to make it about His actual flesh, when He has already told them that He is the bread which leads to eternal life and that eating is believing.  Clearly, he is talking about spiritual things. 

But because they had blinders on, they were caught up in what He literally said rather than trying to understand the spiritual meaning behind what was said. So being that they were set on remaining in the physical realm, Jesus addresses them in the physical realm and uses even stronger language to break through their disbelief. 

⁵³  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. ⁵⁷ As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 

Jesus basically repeats the same thing that He had said earlier but using a more graphic answer.

Just to make one more comparison:

The less graphic teaching

⁴⁰ … that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

The more graphic teaching

⁵⁴ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 

Eating his flesh and drinking his blood are a figurative way of saying: Believe in me, trust me, receive me, get your nourishment from me. Get life from me.

Again, we see that believing in Jesus,

• believing in the fact that He is the Son of God,
• that He came to this earth and lived perfectly without sin,
• that He was beaten and crucified,
• that He died and was raised to new life

This is the same as eating His flesh and drinking his blood and leads to Eternal life. This kind of eating and drinking means that Jesus is in us and we are in him and that we have union with Christ.

The food and drink we normally take into our bodies (and anything that we experience in the flesh) will not bringabout the true life he is talking about.

Only Jesus is the kind of food and drink that gives true life, eternal life.  If He is your portion in life, then you have everything you need to be satisfied and sustained.

Furthermore, we will be raised up with Him in the clouds when he returns.