Chew On This (John 6:51-59)
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jeremy_2_06-20-2025_134135: [00:00:00] Welcome to an episode of one of the weirdest things Jesus ever said.
It was weird when he said it then, and it is just as weird when we read it today. Now, last week we looked at a passage where Jesus compared himself to the bread of life and that got people murmuring. And this week he's gonna take it up a notch or two.
And this is bizarre, but let's figure out what is Jesus doing here. This is John chapter six, beginning in verse 51. He says this. Anyone who eats the bread from heaven however will never die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Sounds similar so far. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.
And this bread, which I offer so the world may live is my flesh. Little weird. Then the people begin [00:01:00] arguing with each other about what he meant. How can this man give us his flesh to eat? They asked, now what you just do? Imagine, just pause. Imagine you're one of the disciples and you're just, you know, sitting there listening to Jesus say this and you're going, oh, no, no, no, no, no.
Uh, Hey, Jesus. Like, I, I don't think that came out right. I don't think that came out the way you intended it. Like I understand like where you're trying to go with it, but. And that sounded really strange the way you said that. Maybe, maybe walk that one back a little bit.
So quiet up and listen down. Nope, scratch that. Reverse it.
jeremy_2_06-20-2025_134135: You can only imagine them wanting to talk him out of the way he's communicating this.
And if any of them tried, Jesus only doubles down more on the point that he's making. Check out verse 53. So Jesus said again, I tell you the truth, unless you eat the [00:02:00] flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks, my blood has eternal life and I will raise that person at the last day.
For my flesh is true food and my blood is true. Drink. Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks, my blood remains in me and I in him. I live because of the living father who sent me in the same way. Anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did, even though they ate the manna, but will live forever Now.
He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. I. Can we just acknowledge this is bizarre? I mean, this is such a [00:03:00] strange passage. You rarely hear this taught in church because it's such a weird wording in the way that Jesus says it. Now let's just have a quick moment. Who do we think of who talks about eating flesh and drinking blood?
In our culture, in our movies, in our stories that we would think of, the answer would be vampires.
You have no memory of this place or the monsters who met now go and never return.
jeremy_2_06-20-2025_134135: That's who we think of. We think of vampires, right? And you're going, okay, so Jesus, this has like a little bit of a vampire. Vibe to it. Like not, not sure that's where you were going for Now, fun fact, you, you may or may not know, the early church actually was accused of being cannibals because of this passage.
There was rumors that went around that, Hey, aren't you part of that group of people that like eat? You eat bodies, you eat other people, [00:04:00] you eat your founder. Like there was literally confusion over this because this is such a strange. Idea. Now in these verses that we just read, Jesus switches out the word that he uses to say eating.
So he changes out that verb and he uses a different one. Now, our English translations don't reflect this, but I wanna show you this 'cause it's, it would've sounded even weirder to them. He changes and he stops saying Eat, and he starts saying, chew he uses the verb to chew. So it would be like this.
Then verse 54, anyone who. Choose my flesh and drinks. My blood has eternal life. 57. Anyone who chews on me will live because of me. 58. Anyone who chews this bread will not die as your ancestors did. I mean, what is going on here? Is Jesus just trying to be provocative? Is he just [00:05:00] trying to be weird? Like why is he saying it in this way?
Now, I would suggest this is a very intentional word choice. He's not accidentally saying this. He's not stumbling over his words. He knows exactly what he's doing. Now let me show you a passage from the Old Testament that would've been crucial to their identity as Jews. Again, this is not something you and I are probably familiar with.
But if you had this passage in mind, you might hear what he's saying a little differently. This is Leviticus 17, verse 10, and if any native Israelite or foreigner living among you, eats or drinks blood in any form, I will turn against that person and cut him off. From the community of your people, why for the life of the body is in the blood.
I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you [00:06:00] right with the Lord. It is the blood given in exchange for a life that makes purification vacation possible. Now, that's an interesting backdrop to consider what Jesus is saying here. With that in mind, why would Jesus say to eat his flesh?
And drink his blood. Now, I would suggest there's at least two reasons why Jesus is communicating in this way. Number one, he's communicating that he is greater than Moses. Now Moses, I would suggest is the most influential person in all of the Old Testament. So you can read all the Old Testament. He is the big deal in the Old Testament.
Now, they have recently in this conversation brought up Moses and brought up the ability The Israelites had to have manna under the leadership of Moses and the Leviticus passage is thought of to be from Moses. So here you have Jesus directly speaking against an [00:07:00] instruction from Moses. He is drawing a line in the sand saying, no, no, no.
My authority supersedes that of Moses, who you have put, on this high pedestal. No, no, I'm above that. Jesus is saying he's greater than Moses. The second thing I think Jesus is saying is that life is found in him. In the person of Jesus, and this is one of the themes that we've seen already in this book, but what was the point of the passage I read in Leviticus that life is in the blood and here you see Jesus saying, come to my blood, come to me to have life.
He is bringing this image together in a very Jewish way that they would have uniquely have understood. So as you and I ponder this story today and go, wow, this is a strange one. Is it possible that finding our life in Jesus requires [00:08:00] an element of discomfort?
Is it possible that for us to truly embrace what Jesus has for us, it might require an element of discomfort on our part. Now, this teaching wasn't received well and the fallout's gonna get even worse next week, and we'll see that. But I pray for us today that you and I can learn to find our life. In Jesus and embrace whatever discomfort comes with that.
I'll see you next week on Rebuilding Faith.
