John 6:52-58 "The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying 'How can this man..."

"The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' So Jesus said to them, 'Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me’" (Jn. 6:52-58).

Question:

I would appreciate this interpretation for my monthly Bible Study. I am a licensed Unity teacher and am enjoying the "life lessons" in the Bible and sharing it with others. I am studying on my own, learning from different translations, learning that way, and recently from Wisdom For a Lifetime by [Alden] Studebaker. I so love and am fulfilled from everything I am reading. Thank you, and many blessings for your work.

Comment:

I think a reasonable first reaction to this passage might be "Ew, gross!" It presents an important spiritual teaching in terms that seem deliberately intended to shock. This is particularly true given that Jesus is speaking to Jews, whose traditions believe blood and human flesh to be unclean, to put it mildly. It's an interesting question whether we think Jesus would be so insulting and confrontational in his teaching – it might lead to a lively discussion in your Bible study group. It's worth noting that the Jesus Seminar – the group of scholars who painstakingly evaluated the gospels in terms of which of Jesus' words seem authentic and which show signs of having been invented by the writers, to address specific, and later, situations – were not convinced that any of the Jesus quotations in the Gospel of John could be said to be completely authentic.   Interesting, maybe, but really irrelevant to the powerful spiritual message and metaphysical understanding of the Gospel of John. The key here – and consistently throughout the Gospel – is that Jesus is speaking as Jesus Christ – the full and complete expression of his divine nature. It is the symbolic body and blood – the substance and life – of the Christ that we must claim for ourselves in order to express our own Christ nature. "The one who eats this bread (embraces and claims this spiritual truth) will live forever." Earlier in the same Gospel Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well that "those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life" (Jn. 4:14). The image is much easier to accept, and the truth is the same. We drink the water (or blood) and eat the bread (or body) of the Christ when we believe in the example of Jesus and claim our own innate, eternal divine nature.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed