Douglas Young  

On one level, it must have sounded morbid. “Whosoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54, NKJV)? These words were uttered amidst a backdrop of startling revelations. Jesus feeds a multitude of people with nothing more than five loaves of bread and two fishes (John 6:9ff.). He compares Himself with the manna that God gave the Israelites in the wilderness of Kadesh-Barnea (vv. 30-33), and then suggests that He is “the bread of life” (v. 35), a bread that can assuage hunger. Then in verse 51 He says, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” In this context, He then drops the bombshell of verse 54, but what exactly was Jesus saying?

This consumption of which Jesus speaks is not about cannibalism, neither does it have anything to do with what in New Testament Christianity is referred to as the Lord’s Supper. Jesus uses this metaphor to speak of consuming the message and truth of Himself for the purposes of attaining and maintaining salvation. He is the way, truth and the life (John 14:6). As truth, He must be received and obeyed (John 12:48). He must be assimilated into our lives in the conviction of faith.

Matthew Henry offered an excellent explanation of the puzzling statement of Jesus.

What is meant by eating his flesh and drinking his blood, which is so necessary and beneficial it is certain that it means neither more nor less than believing in Christ. As we partake of meat and drink by eating and drinking; so we partake of Christ and his benefits by faith; and believing in Christ includes these four things, which eating and drinking do: First, It implies an appetite to Christ. This spiritual eating and drinking begins with hungering and thirsting (Matt. v.6)…Secondly, An application of Christ to ourselves. Meat looked upon will not nourish us, but meat fed upon, and so made our own, as it were one with us. We must so accept of Christ as to appropriate him to ourselves…Thirdly, a delight in Christ and his salvation. The doctrine of Christ must be meat and drink to us, most pleasant and delightful…Fourthly, A derivation of nourishment from him and a dependence upon him for the support and the comfort of our spiritual life, and the strength, growth, and vigour of the new man. To feed upon Christ is to do all in his name, in union with him, and by virtue drawn from him, it is to live upon him as we do our meat. (Matthew Henry’s Commentary, 955)

Is Jesus your diet?