Eat his flesh and drink his blood

Friday January 21, 2022

Eat his flesh and drink his blood

If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves... For my flesh is verily food, and my blood is verily drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. John 6:53,55,56

Twice in this chapter Jesus invites his listeners to eat his flesh and drink his blood. The verb eat, in the first verse quoted (v. 53), translates a Greek word which has rather the meaning “to absorb”, while, in verse 56, the Greek verb translated by to feed literally means “to chew”.

To receive eternal life, each person must look to Jesus Christ who died on the cross to bear the sins of those who believe in him. In the same way, the Israelite bitten by the serpents had to turn to the serpent of brass to be saved.

In verses 55 and 56, the believer is invited to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, that is, to feed on it. The eternal life he has received is thus maintained by proper nourishment.

To feed on his flesh and drink his blood is to keep the death of the Lord present in my meditations. I then discovered that the cross has multiple implications in my life :

First, I think of the love of my Savior who suffered so much for me.

I understand that the world that crucified Jesus Christ can bring me nothing ; on the contrary, it can only divert my thoughts towards evil.

I see there the absolute wickedness of man, but also, fortunately, the infinite love and justice of God.

I understand more and more that my justice rests on the work of Christ and never on the respect of a law. I can thus live in true Christian freedom.

Finally, I rejoice in thinking of the marvelous consequences of the Lord's death, of the multitude of Old Testament believers who are also saved through the sacrifice of Christ, of the sin of the world which will be taken away because of the cross, of the new heavens and new earth, etc.

Feeding on a Christ who was dead leads me also to see him, by faith, risen and to wait for the moment when he will usher into eternal joy those whom he has redeemed by his blood.

Source (Pleasing the Lord)