Too Tough to Swallow?

Communion Devotional by Norman Moll, April 5, 2008

Jesus popularity was at its peak. He had fed the crowd of 5000+ and the people wanted more! Unfortunately what they wanted more of was not what Jesus had come to offer. The popular Messiah image and the real Messiah were about to part company for good. And with the parting would come wholesale desertion from his cause. Those "freebie" seekers for the most part would soon be gone – out of there!

While Jesus counseled the disciples to not attempt to separate the wheat from the tares, Jesus clearly intended his teaching on this day to do just that. The Spirit of Inspiration gives us insight as to why. Had the uncommitted remained as part of the group up until the time when Jesus offered himself as the Anti-typical Passover Lamb, the confusion and uncertainty of the event combined with the departure of the majority of Jesus followers could have destroyed the fragile faith of the disciples as well.

Jesus has described himself as "The Bread if Life," "the Bread Come Down from Heaven" He had contrasted the bread He was offering with the manna which Moses prayed for when the Israelites were without food, stranded in the desert. Those who ate that bread – the Manna – all died. Those who eat the "Bread of Life" will live forever. The listening crowd jumped on Jesus words, "Master, give us this bread, now and forever!" 

But they were still missing the point and to bring it home Jesus took the discussion to the next level: "I'm telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate the manna-bread in the desert and died. But now here is Bread that truly comes down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread will not die, ever. I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live—and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self."

Those in the crowd who had a knowledge of the scriptures should have recognized the spiritual nature of what Jesus was saying. But instead they attempted to take only the literal meaning of the words. Moses himself had written (Deuteronomy 8:3) by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, "Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord." And Jeremiah had penned (Jeremiah 15:16), "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart."

Like Nicodemus the audience here sought to avoid the spiritual lesson by pretending that the literal meaning was the only possible way to understand what Jesus was saying. "How can this man serve up his own flesh for a meal?"

But Jesus didn't give an inch. "Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life [eternal life] within you. The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me. This is the Bread from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always." John 6:53-58 The Message

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Alternate reading.

Jesus answered:   "I tell you for certain that you won't live unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man. But if you do eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have eternal life, and I will raise you to life on the last day. My flesh is the true food, and my blood is the true drink. If you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you are one with me, and I am one with you.

   "The living Father sent me, and I have life because of him. Now everyone who eats my flesh will live because of me. The bread that comes down from heaven isn't like what your ancestors ate. They died, but whoever eats this bread will live forever." John 6:53-58 The Contemporary English Version

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Those who heard Jesus words were amazed. But with the symbolism Jesus was driving home a critically important point. Yes it was a difficult message. For some it was "Too Tough to Swallow."

I think Jesus intentionally chose an out of the ordinary analogy to convey a truth he wanted people to struggle with and remember. How could one offer his flesh and blood to others as a meal? Only by dying! And that is precisely what Christ was about to do – die as a perfect, once-for-ever sacrifice for the sins of anyone who ever lived in this world! But to avail themselves of that sacrifice that person – you and me – must understand, believe and by faith accept that gift. "Eat it up." "Digest it." "Live on it, continuously." "Make it our daily diet!"

What does it mean to "eat the flesh and drink the blood" of Christ?

Quoting from the pen of inspiration, Desire of Ages, page 389, "To eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ is to receive Him as a personal Saviour, believing that He forgives our sins, and that we are complete in Him. It is by beholding His love, by dwelling upon it, by drinking it in, that we are to become partakers of His [divine] nature. What food is to the body, Christ must be to the soul. Food cannot benefit us unless we eat it. . . So Christ is of no value to us if we do not know Him as a personal Saviour. . . We must feed upon Him; receive Him into the heart, so that His life becomes our life. His love, His grace, . . [our own]."

And so the question rings down through the corridors of time to us today? Will you eat the flesh and drink the blood offered for your sins by the Saviour of the world? And that question is put forward to us especially as we come to the communion service, as we have today.

There is a clear connection, a connection Christ no doubt intended, between what happened there in the Synagogue in Capernaum in the middle of His ministry and what happened in the upper room in Jerusalem at the end. In the upper room Jesus took bread and broke it and after blessing it gave it to His followers to eat with the words, "Take eat, this is my body which is broken for you." And he took the cup of grape juice and said, "This is my blood which is shed for you. All of you, drink it."

The same symbolism. . .

The same implied question, "Will you eat my flesh and drink my blood?"

"My flesh is the real food; my blood is the real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him" (John 6:55, 56).

As we participate in Communion we should in our imagination join in the scene of that Passover meal in the upper room. As our partner washes our feet, we should imagine that it is Jesus washing away the accumulated dust and dirt of sin. As we watch the bread is broken, and Jesus speaks the words, "This is my body which is broken for you!" As the wine is served, it is He who offers us His own spilled blood to cover our sins. Can we see Him dying to provide this sacramental gift?

Will we accept that most precious gift of forgiveness?

Will we confess our sins?

Or will we deny that we have sinned?

We come to communion, not as spectators or silent congregants, but as active participants. In communion, we are outwardly speaking to God in word-signs. The Eucharistic celebration is an act of thanksgiving for the gift of God in Christ.

Communion is also an act of self-giving to God.

Jesus asked his disciples, "Can you drink the cup that I drink?" In other words, are you willing and able to die to self and live totally in commitment to me as I live in commitment to my Father and His purposes? Through the participation in these elements we indicate our willingness to be broken for the needs of the world. We offer our life blood to be poured out for our brothers and sisters.

Jesus said, "Do this for my recalling." He did not say, "Do this to call me to mind." He was saying, "Do this and enter into the reality of my life and death." To remember is to re – member, to reassemble, to put back together again.

And so today in a most solemn manner we are invited to enter together into the upper room and there to commune with Jesus our Saviour.

We are invited to behold His matchless love! To be elevated in thought, purified in heart, transformed in character! Here Christ offers to equip us to go forth to be a light to the world, to reflect that mysterious love that led our Redeemer to offer himself for our fallen world.

Will you let Christ wash your feet? Will you not eat the bread and drink the cup He offers, all of you?

I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
       even at night my heart instructs me.

8 I have set the LORD always before me.
       Because he is at my right hand,
       I will not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
       my body also will rest secure,

10 because you will not abandon me to the grave,
       nor will you let your Holy One  see decay.

11 You have made known to me the path of life;
       you will fill me with joy in your presence,
       with eternal pleasures at your right hand.