John 6:52-71

Eat My Flesh and Drink My Blood

On this occasion many of Jesus’ followers left because this was a hard teaching. It still is. Clearly Jesus was not inviting those present to start taking bites out of His body, but what does He mean?

One of the theological divides in the church concerns the bread and the wine at Table of the Lord. The majority actually subscribe to the notion that the bread and wine contain the actual presence of Christ when presided over by a properly ordained priest following the proper liturgy. This is called Transubstantiation. Most Protestants do not hold to this doctrine since it cannot be fully supported from Scripture.

I side with the Protestants (no big surprise there) but I can also see some validity in the Transubstantiation arguments, so I don’t hold to the radical position that those who have this view of the Table are in some way sacrificing Christ again, or that they are not saved. For me the idea that the elements themselves are transformed is a bit too “magical” and actually puts more distance between my Lord and me than the simple idea that the Table is an invitation to stop and connect with Him in my heart. Others might feel closer to Him coming from the perspective of Transubstantiation.

This is the point. The idea isn’t who has the perfect theology. The idea is to draw near to Him. When Jesus asked the somewhat mystifying question, “What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?” He was simply saying that once we have proof that He is Christ we simply have to deal with the hard, even offensive, stuff that we may not understand.

Simon Peter got it right. He didn’t claim to understand this hard teaching. He certainly never fully explained the mystery. All he knew was that there is no where else to go. Christ alone has the words of eternal life.