6:66 | John 6
John 6
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Chapter Notables:
Jesus feeds the 5000 - verses 1-15
Jesus walks on water - verses 16-24
Jesus declares Himself to be the Bread of Life - verses 25-59
Jesus says, “Eat My Flesh and drink My Blood” with many disciples deserting Him - verses 60-71
Flesh And Blood | Lemuel Ayudtud
There are some things that are difficult to understand and hard to swallow. As much as you want to or feel the need to, because you can’t understand it or because you can’t grasp the idea of it, all you can do is leave it behind. Sometimes we lose the most valuable or the most marvelous not because we can’t appreciate it, but because we can’t understand it.
In the book of John 6:66 the Bible tells us that many of the disciples who followed Jesus stoped following Him for something He said. What did Jesus say that made these people leave? What was it that Jesus said that they could not get over? It was the saying of Jesus about “drinking His blood“ and “eating His flesh”.
It was a hard saying for them. It was kind of cannibalistic. They were assuming that Jesus wanted them to eat His physical body and drink His physical blood. It was more than just against the laws of Moses, it was against the laws of nature. It was horrifying to them, so many left off from following Him because of that saying.
The problem was Jesus wasn’t talking about cannibalism. He wasn’t talking about His physical body or His physical blood; He was speaking about a connection that was deeper than any type of human connection. Jesus was speaking about the level of partnership that He wanted His disciples to engage in. They were not just to sit around and look at Him preach or do miracles. They were to partake of His passion and His purpose which was and is to reconcile people back to God.
The would-be disciples were triggered. They could not hang with what Jesus was saying because they were still in their flesh. They were wanting to just be observers and distant followers. That’s the reason why when Jesus turned to the 12 and asked them, “Will you go, too?” Those disciples, the ones that were with Him every day said, “Where else can we go? Who else has the words of eternal life?”
See the major difference?
Those that knew Jesus intimately understood what Jesus was saying while those who were mere “fans” could not understand. Why? Because they were just distant consumers or hearers or spectators, would-be disciples, who followed Jesus for His power or His ability to create food. Or maybe they were waiting for Jesus to establish an earthly Kingdom; maybe they were seekers of the possibility for fame or power. They could not understand the words of Jesus because His spiritual teaching was too deep for them to perceive.
John 6:66 is known to some people, maybe tongue-in-cheek or euphemistically, as the anti-Christ verse because the chapter and verse write out 666—the number of the antichrist in the book of Revelation—and the verse tells of disciples being offended and many left Jesus because of it.
If we take that idea of 666—the Mark of the Beast, then Bible tells us that the number of the antichrist or the Beast is the number of a man. No if we take it allegorically, then it’s sort of like being fleshly or carnal. In essence those that left Jesus left because they couldn’t understand what He was saying. They were showing their carnality or their fleshliness. Rather than trusting in what the Lord said, they leaned on their own understanding and left Him.
How about us? Where are we in the conversation?
There are many things that can offend us because of lack of understanding. There’s also the call of Jesus to go deeper, partner up, or participate in His passion to save the lost. We are invited to act and not just spectate. We are invited to pick up our cross on our backs and not just wear it on a necklace around our necks. We’re invited to eat His flesh and drink His blood.
What is our response?
Will we be those who didn’t understand or maybe did not want the weight of the passion of Jesus, so they were marked by the flesh and walked away? Or will we be like the disciples, the core 12, who firmly said to Jesus, “We ain’t going nowhere.”
We know their story. All of them denied Him except for John when He was at the cross. (And Judas who could not bear the weight of his shame and betrayal, killing himself.) But later on when they were finally converted, they took on the challenge of spreading the Gospel to the world, with some of them being beaten and later murdered for the same. Truly they partook of His flesh and drank of His blood.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO DRINK HIS BLOOD AND EAT HIS FLESH?
We’re invited to consume the passion of Christ which is to bring lost sons back to the Father. It’s heavy. It’s hard. It’s uncomfortable and life altering. It’s action. It’s involvement. It’s beyond ordinary relationship, though—it’s a flesh and blood bond.
When we eat His flesh and drink of His blood, He gets in us. It’s not just an external connection. It’s not just a profession or even a declaration from our mouths. It’s not just Sunday-go-to-service. Jesus said, “If you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you will dwell with Me and I in you.” Wow.
When we eat His flesh and drink His blood our lives cannot be separated from our call. We can no longer just be a member. We become partners. Jesus doesn’t become just a point of praise or prayer; He is in us 24/7—His calling can’t be put to shelf when we become uncomfortable or spiritually lazy. He is alive in us and we are alive in Him!
Jesus knew how difficult eating His flesh and drinking His blood was and is, so He asked them then as He asks us now, “Will you go too?” He knows the weight of the burden. Let’s pray our response be: “Where else would we go? Who else has the words of eternal life?”
Lord, help me to do the hard thing. Teach me, Father, to love what You love. Let me not be fleshly and carnal. Help me to not just be a fan who appears to be a follower but refuses to do the difficult thing; leaving when they don’t understand or when the going gets tough. Lord, help me to eat Your flesh and to drink Your blood; Your flesh is bread indeed and Your blood is drink indeed. I know if I consume it I will have eternal life in me. I know if I partake in Your passion there is a reward for me not only in the life to come but in the life right now. Help me not to just be a spectator, watching You do Your thing. Help me to be Your hands and Your feet, going where You want to go, being who You want to be among people, changing the lives of those who come and believe in You. I ask this in Your Name Jesus, amen.