John 6:51

“I am the living bread which came down from Heaven. If any man eats of this bread he will live for ever. Yes, and the bread which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

In contrast to the ‘manna from Heaven', Jesus points out that He is ‘the living bread which came down from Heaven', heavenly food that gives life. Indeed if anyone eats of this bread (by coming to Him and believing on Him - John 6:35) he will live for ever. Thus the ‘eternal life' is not only a present life with eternal qualities, but also a life which will go on for ever. Here is bread which can give true life, eternal life, and He is that bread. They must eat of Him, that is they must respond to Him and His teaching in full faith, and then they will live for ever.

But now a new theme is introduced into His teaching. ‘The bread which I will give is my flesh'. Up to this point the bread has been life-giving bread, offered to be ‘eaten' by coming to Him and hearing His words, and responding in obedient trust (John 6:35). It has been composed of Himself and His teaching. Those were His words to the crowds, and he had repeated them to the Judaisers. It was an offer of life to all who would come to Him at that time and truly believe, although He was no doubt ever conscious of the way in which it would finally be brought about. Now He would deal with a new situation, the antagonism of the Judaisers, and it enabled Him to introduce a new and challenging form of teaching, with His coming Passover possibly in mind (John 6:4).

You will remember from John 5:18 that these latest hearers were the same men who were plotting to kill him. They were men of blood. They carried death in their hearts. This explains the change that now takes place in Jesus' tone and the change in His illustration. Their presence had brought home to Him what lay before Him. From now on He would not talk of ‘the bread of life', the life-giving bread, but would use the Old Testament simile of ‘eating flesh' and ‘drinking blood', which meant killing someone, or benefiting by their death. It would, however, still give life, for finally that life would be made available through His death. But it was a new perspective not introduced to the general people.

In order to fully appreciate what He was saying we need an awareness of vivid Jewish imagery. In the Old Testament the Psalmist spoke of those who ‘eat up my people like they eat bread' (Psalms 14:4; Psalms 53:4), whilst Micah describes the unjust rulers of Israel as ‘those who hate the good and love the evil --- who eat the flesh of my people' (Micah 3:3). Compare also Psalms 27:2, ‘evil-doers came on me to eat up my flesh'. Thus ‘eating flesh' or ‘eating people' signified killing them or doing them great harm.

Furthermore in Zechariah 9:15 the LXX speaks of the fact that the victorious people of God ‘will drink their blood like wine' signifying a triumphant victory and the slaughter of their enemies, and David used a similar picture when three of his followers had risked their lives to fetch him water. He poured it out on the ground as an offering to God and said, ‘shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?'.

Isaiah brought both metaphors together when he said of the enemies of Israel that God would ‘make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine' (Isaiah 49:26), signifying that they would destroy themselves. Thus in Hebrew thought drinking a person's blood meant killing someone or benefiting by their death.

This can be paralleled elsewhere in the New Testament for in Matthew's Gospel the people said of their 'fathers' that they were 'partakers in the blood of the prophets' (Matthew 23:30), because they contributed to their deaths. Thus when Jesus spoke of ‘eating my flesh and drinking my blood' He was using easily recognised metaphors.

Initially Jesus signalled the change in tone in His words by saying ‘The bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh'. This had more sinister overtones than what had gone before. He was indicating that His flesh must be given for the life of the world. Previously the eating had been by coming to Him and believing in Him, by responding to Him and His teaching. Now the thought is entering that they must be ‘eat Him' by bringing about His death.

We could paraphrase what follows like this - ‘you are plotting to kill Me (to eat my flesh and drink My blood). Well, let Me tell you this. It is actually necessary for Me so to die so that this offer of life might be provided. Paradoxically, unless you do put Me to death (eat my flesh and drink my blood), the life will not be available. But as a result of the death you are plotting for Me, men will be able to partake of the benefit of My death by believing in Me and finding life through it.' This is not a message He had been preaching to the crowds. They would not have understood. But now He has been forced into going public about it, for He is facing those who are after His blood, and He therefore intends to declare it. These men were planning to kill Him, to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Well, they will be permitted to do so, for His death was necessary in order that men might benefit from His life. But at least let them face up to what they were doing.

For the truth was that if life was indeed to be made available it was necessary for them to put Him to death, to “eat His flesh and drink His blood”. And paradoxically the result would be that they could then, if they came to believe, partake of the benefits of His death by receiving life. Indeed all who would come to Him must recognise that they were in some way responsible for His death and must partake in that death and the benefits that spring from it.

The innocent listeners would be puzzled, but the plotters would be fully aware of at least part of the import of His words. They knew what their own sinister intentions were. They knew what they were plotting. They knew that they were ‘after His blood'. And so did He. Yet still He was offering them life. He would not give up on them. Perhaps one day when they had killed Him, they would remember His words, and having eaten His flesh and drunk His blood in one way, they might also do it in another way by putting their trust in the crucified and risen Christ. If they did they would receive eternal life and be raised at the last day (John 6:54). (Paul was one such, and there were surely others). Again we have here a double entendre.