Last week, we discovered that Jesus told the crowd plainly about one important aspect of His identity: 

“I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).

If we acknowledge Jesus as the One sent from the Father, and ask Him to give us LIFE, His life, then we would never hunger or thirst for any other kind of spiritual food or drink, as He would give us a constant supply of all that we need to sustain the life that He gives us. Then Jesus got right to the point: 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life, I am the bread of life” (John 6:47-48).

As we noted last week, this is really the message of the gospel – That Jesus came to give us LIFE, His Life, and that this LIFE becomes the possession of the one who believes, and it is a LIFE that will last for eternity. Then Jesus want on to say:

“Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh” (John 6:49-51).

Yes, you heard Him right, “The bread which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh” (John 6:51). Of course, Jesus was pointing ahead to the cross (a truth that He tried to keep hidden). And, as expected, they were not understanding, so they assumed that Jesus was going to give them His own flesh to eat. And then, Jesus responded with what we might call “hyperbolic metaphor,” or an exaggerated metaphor, saying:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you will have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food and My blood is true drink” (John 6:53-55).

Although there are many interpretations of this passage, I believe that Jesus is saying that “you must be consumed with Me.” It means total identification with Christ, consuming all His words, and applying all that He will do on the cross to our lives. Remember, communion is all about “remembering” Him by “eating His flesh” (the bread) and drinking His blood (partaking of the cup). Jesus went on to say,

“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate, and died, he who eats this bread shall live forever” (John 6:56-58).

Jesus wanted to be clear about His words, that if we are consumed with Him, we will find life, and a life that lives forever. So, you might think that the disciples understood all of this! Are you kidding?

Many of the disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult statement, who can listen to it?” (John 6:60).

As a result of this saying, many of Jesus’ disciples (other than the twelve) left and did not follow Him any longer. At this point, Jesus asked His disciples,

“You do not want to go away also, do you?” (John 6:67)

And I love Peter’s reply: 

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69).

The disciples recognized two important things: 1) that Jesus is the Son of God; and 2) if they didn’t follow Him, there would be no use in following anybody! And that goes the same for you and me. If we recognize Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God, then let’s not only follow Him, but follow Him passionately. He has the words that will give us “Life,” so let’s dig into His Word and consume those words. If we want to abide in Him, we must be consumed with Him. 

Next week, we will move into Chapter 7 of the Gospel of John. May the Lord bless you in every way.