With the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, His resurrection, and His ascension in heaven, the early church had its beginning. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, the apostles, and the first evangelists, the Gospel spread and the kingdom grew. Despite this success, there were also obstacles and resistance from some early Jewish Christians, the Roman Empire, and other religious groups. Additionally, Christians practiced their faith in ways which others found quite strange. The nascent Christian congregations celebrated Holy Communion, the receiving of Jesus’ true body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine. Those outside the Christian communities took offense at the idea of eating flesh and drinking blood—common practices otherwise associated with pagan or even satanic rituals.
A Hard Teaching
The reading for this month’s blog finds Jesus Christ calling those around Him to eat of His flesh and drink of His blood. Just like the groups listed above with the early church, Jesus’ listeners found this teaching to be challenging to hear.
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” (v. 53)
However, in this case, Jesus is not referring to Holy Communion. Not yet. He still has to institute the Lord’s Supper with the disciples in the Upper Room. At this point, Jesus is speaking of His body that He will give and His blood that He will shed on the cross. Jesus is teaching of the necessity of appropriating Christ through faith. In other words, through faith we receive the benefits of what Jesus would eventually do for our salvation—namely, die on the cross and rise from the dead. Understanding this, Jesus’ words make sense.
Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on Me, he also will live because of Me. (vv. 54–57).
Life through the Son
During His ministry, Jesus consistently refers to His relationship to the Father, stressing that He and the Father are one. His goal is to lead people to faith that He is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. He does this through teaching and miracles. Read the last sentence of the quote above. Jesus wants His listeners and now His readers to understand how we have life with the Father through the Son. The Father is the living God. Jesus has life with the Father. Through faith we have life in the Son. This is the blessed reality for all Christians.
In His teaching that there is life with the Father through the Son, Jesus is presenting Himself as the Son of God, making Himself equal with God. Certainly, the Jews found this hard to swallow. Recall that the Jews asserted their connection to God through the patriarch Abraham. As biological descendants of Abraham, they presumed to have God’s favor and to be welcomed one day into His eternal presence. Jesus is nullifying this notion and instead asserting that there is salvation only through Him.
Like many of the Jews in Jesus’ day, there are people many today who find Jesus’ teaching to be too hard to accept. The world teaches that people are basically good. The Bible teaches that we are sinful from conception. The world teaches that if there is a god, this god will judge everyone based on his or her actions in this earthly life. The Bible teaches that there is only salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. The world teaches that there are many valid faiths in the world, including Christianity, and all of them will lead one to heaven. The Bible teaches that no one comes to the Father except through the Son, Jesus Christ.
Who Is Calling Whom?
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray Him.) And He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father.” (vv. 63–65)
Near the end of the passage, Jesus delivers another teaching that is a hard saying for not only unbelievers but also many Christians. Note the final sentence of the quote above. Our Lord is asserting that unbelievers do not become Christians by choice but rather through the work of God. In other portions of the Bible, we learn that as sinners we are blind, dead, and enemies of God. In our sinful nature we are lost, without not only the ability to choose Christ but also the interest in choosing Christ. Instead, Jesus teaches that “no one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father” (v. 65) and “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all” (v. 63). Unbelievers reject this teaching, clinging to the false notion of free will. Many Christians reject it, treasuring instead the moment they believe they chose Jesus and asked Him into their hearts.
Yet, the truth that the Holy Spirit brings the Christian to faith is a great comfort. How can I find assurance in something I chose, knowing my frailty and infidelity to the Lord? Instead, I rely on what God the Almighty has done, His decision for me, His work, His salvation.
Scripture: ESV®
Explore the doctrine of the Sacrament through citations from the earliest church fathers.
