John 6.47-58.
Jesus is
This is where Jesus goes way too far with the Galileans
And like I said, Jesus gets graphic. In verses 54, 56, and 58 he uses the word
Of course, since Jesus is talking about eating and drinking him, it immediately brings to mind the ritual of communion which Jesus introduced in his last supper.
John 6.47-58 KWL 47 “Amen amen! I promise you²- one who believes has life in the age to come.
48 I’m the living bread.49 In the wilderness,- your² forefathers did eat manna,
- and did die.
50 This is the bread- which comes down from heaven,
- so one might eat it,
- and might not die:
51 I’m the living bread- which comes down from heaven.
- When anyone eats of this bread,
- they¹ will live in the age to come.
- Also, the bread which I will give you,
- my body,
- is for the life of the world.”
52 So the Judeans are debating one another,- saying, “How can this man
- give us his body to eat?”
53 So Jesus tells them, “Amen amen! I promise you²- unless you² eat the body of the Son of Man,
- and drink his blood,
- you² don’t have life in you².
54 One who chews on my body- and drinks my blood
- has life in the age to come,
- and I will resurrect them¹ on the Last Day.
55 For my body is really food,- and my blood is really drink.
56 One who chews on my body- and drinks my blood
- abides in me,
- and I in them¹.
57 Just as the living Father sends me,- and I live because of the Father,
- one who chews me—
- that one will live because of me.
58 This is the bread- which comes down from heaven.
- It’s not like the forefathers did eat
- and die;
- One who chews on this bread
- will live in the age to come.”
The metaphor and the sacrament.
For centuries,
The word
But too many Christians reduce communion only to the ritual. We eat the wafer, drink the wine or juice or water, and that’s all communion is to us. It’s just something we gotta do, because Jesus ordained it. But it’s really not just a ritual.
If we only practice the ritual, but don’t bother with the lifestyle and the relationship it’s meant to represent,
Hence we have two factions of Christians: Those who recognize this passage is about our relationship with Jesus, and those who think this is only about holy communion. And both factions sneer at the Galileans, and claim, “Well, they didn’t understand this passage at all. They were outraged because they must’ve taken Jesus too literally, and thought he was talking about cannibalism.”
No they didn’t. The Galileans grew up with the Psalms, remember? Israeli culture is steeped in metaphor; they totally knew what it is. They knew Jesus is speaking in metaphor. Hardcore metaphor—the cannibalism bits are obviously about a profound relationship with Jesus. Which was way too hardcore for them.
Lastly, I’ll briefly mention the Roman Catholic practice of interpreting this passage
I grew up Protestant, and was raised to not interpret this passage this literally. Instead I was raised to interpret other passages way too literally. All Christians do this—unless they’re part of
But I do agree we oughta take holy communion, and all our rituals, seriously—and Catholics do, and that’s good. Yeah, they can go overboard when they take their belief to its logical conclusions—like worshiping the elements ’cause now they’re Jesus; like pointing out you can blaspheme the elements ’cause now they’re Jesus; like how people with gluten allergies can’t swap in gluten-free substitutes because only these wafers can become Jesus. But to be fair, literalist Protestants go overboard too, and all of us need to discourage ridiculous extremes in any of our beliefs—especially when they discourage us from
Okay, back to the Galileans.
Jesus’s audience of Galileans (whom John calls “Judeans” because they are; the Galilee was settled a century before by Judeans), were aware Jesus was speaking in metaphor, like I said; were aware Jesus was speaking of a radical relationship with him, like I said. And Jesus added to this that if you wanna live in Kingdom Come, if you wanna be resurrected and receive eternal life, you gotta eat and drink of him. Just as he has life because of the Father, we have eternal life when we eat and drink of him.
Jesus offers himself “for the life of the world,”
Jesus’s statements provoked debate,
But when synagogue debates started going in the wrong direction—students getting angry, or students jumping to the wrong conclusions—the rabbi was expected to step in and steer them right, and this is what we see Jesus doing right here. First the students debated, “How’s this guy gonna give us his body to eat?” and then Jesus explained himself by expounding on it… and gave ’em more to debate about.
This is where we Christians often misunderstand what Jesus is doing. Most interpreters presume Jesus is deliberately trying to outrage and confuse the Galileans, and get ’em so angry that only true believers would stick around. No; that’s not what he’s doing. He’s trying to teach people to stop seeking material possessions and earthly bread; to seek him, the heavenly bread; to commit themselves to him so far, they’d “eat and drink Jesus.”
And like a patient teacher, once they finally understood what Jesus’s metaphor meant, then he’d push ’em further. Because he really isn’t kidding about the level of commitment he expects of his followers. And still expects.
Thing is, the Galileans presumed they were getting eternal life because they were Israeli; because they’re descendants of Abraham; because they’re God’s chosen people. Same as Christians who believe all we gotta do to be saved is
And just like Christians who base all our Christianity
