The Flesh and Blood of Christ

Background Scripture: John 6:44-71
Lesson Scripture: John 6:47-57, 63

Introduction

In the series of our recent Sunday school lessons, we have studied about how Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, was born into our world, a world of sin and sorrow. Then we considered how He invites us to be born into his world, which is the kingdom of God. “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7). After being born into his kingdom, his Word becomes our light, our guide, our necessary, spiritual food. Last week’s lesson demonstrated his desire and ability to supply all of our needs. Today we will consider how He provides for our most urgent need, the need to have our sins forgiven.

In order to be born again and to enter his kingdom, we must first find forgiveness for our sin. Jesus has given Himself for us, and in that we will find the meaning of this lesson.

Key Verse

Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able (Matt. 20:22).

Lesson Scripture

Studying the Lesson

In the gospel written by John, the teaching of Jesus in today’s lesson occurred right after the miracle of feeding the five thousand. That miracle demonstrated the mighty power of God to supply the needs of natural life. The people who benefitted from that miracle were now ready to believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah (John 6:14). Jesus could provide free meals just by blessing the food! The people were eager for that kind of Messiah.

After that miracle, Jesus and his disciples went across the Sea of Galilee by boat in the night. The people came looking for Him again the next day, and when they realized that He was gone, they went to the other side of the sea also. What were they looking for? What was the attraction? Jesus had said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6). Were these people seeking after righteousness? Were they looking for truth, or were they looking for another free meal?

Jesus plainly stated that they were just seeking Him because of his ability to provide free food. Jesus then turned this into an opportunity to speak to them about their real need. A meal today is gone tomorrow, but He was offering them food that would help them live not only today but forever—food that would bring eternal life! “Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread (John 6:34).

Jesus explained that He Himself was this living bread. His flesh and his blood were the bread of eternal life. He told the people that if they would eat his flesh and drink his blood, they would live forever. Shocking words! To live forever, yes, that sounded appealing, but to eat his flesh? Drink his blood? Surely not! The people just could not understand. Many were horrified. He was trying to tell them that there was no profit in satisfying our fleshly desires only. It is our spiritual life that is really important, but they did not understand. The crowds who had been very eager to follow him yesterday when He gave them food to fill their stomachs now began to turn away from Him. Jesus even asked the twelve apostles if they, too, would go away.

Practical Truths for Today

Can we imagine the shock that our Lord’s words produced in some of the listeners? Without spiritual understanding, we, too, would have the same reaction. Those words cannot be understood by the natural mind. Only a spiritual mind can perceive the truth that lies within those words. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). This is what Jesus meant by saying, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).

As Christians, we say that we know the way of salvation and claim to understand the plan of God. We know that Jesus died for our sins. We often hear it said, and we express our thankfulness for it, but how often do we consider being personally responsible for his death?

Let us take a lesson from nature. All living things can be separated into two categories: plants or animals. Plants manufacture their life from lifeless elements. Their nourishment comes from the soil, the water, the air, and the sun. It is different with animals.

Animals, including humans, can only get nourishment from eating other things that were alive. Animals cannot eat dirt and live. Many creatures, such as cattle, must eat the plants that were once alive. Some creatures eat other animals that were once alive. This is a truth of nature and also a fact concerning our natural, human body. Life only comes from life.

Man has a spirit and soul. We not only have natural life, but also spiritual life. The lesson in nature described above applies to our spiritual life as well. Anyone who can study this lesson is physically alive, but not all may be spiritually alive. Some may be spiritually dead even now, but regardless, every one of us has been spiritually dead. “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). The object of our study in this lesson is to point us to what having true life really means. To receive and sustain our spiritual life, we must consume something that already had spiritual life in it. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:11). In a sense, Jesus must be consumed (eaten) by us if we are to be born again and continue living spiritually.

The living thing that is being consumed must die. When the cow eats grass, that portion of grass dies. A beast that is eaten dies in the process. In the same way, Jesus had to die to give his life to us, but it is not enough for the living thing to just die, whether it is plant or beast. Simply dying does not pass life from one being into another. The dying thing must be eaten. Even though someone else may have done the actual preparation of our food, we become personally responsible for the death of the creature whose life we consume. It died for our sake; it died that we might live.

The Son of God was born into our world; we love to celebrate the fact, but his birth alone does not save us. Jesus had to die for our sins; we rejoice and praise his name for it. But even that does not yet accomplish our salvation. We must eat his flesh and drink his blood to obtain the eternal life found in Him. Salvation then becomes a very personal and intimate experience. We realize and confess that not only did He die for us, He also died because of us. We are responsible; we caused his death so that his life could pass into us. With the understanding and realization of this comes the greatest miracle of all. Far more than only providing a day’s meal for five thousand, the life and spirit of Jesus begins to course within us. We dwell in Him, and He dwells in us, and we become the immortal children of God.

Jesus asks each one of us, “Can you drink the cup that I drink? Can you be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” He took upon Himself the guilt for all human sin. He knew that the penalty for sin was death. He accepted that He now deserved death. Can we drink that cup? Will we accept our guilt? Can we accept that we deserve death for our sins?

Jesus suffered much in the flesh on the cross. If we partake of his suffering, we must allow our flesh to suffer in order to gain eternal life. For too many people, true self-denial is too great a price to pay. It wasn’t too great of a price for Jesus, however. He did it for our sake.

Illustration

Jesus instituted two sacraments for his church: baptism and Communion. “And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many” (Mark 14:22-24). “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come” (1 Cor. 11:26). May our participation in Communion become ever more precious to us. Communion is clearly an observance of what this lesson is about.

Let us ponder the words of this song:

I’m the one who shouted “crucify,”

I’m the one who made His cross so high

I’m the one who stood and watched Him die;

What have I done? I’m the one.1

Questions

1. A prominent Christian once said that all people have one of two lights glowing inside of them. One light says, “I don’t deserve to go to hell.” The other says, “I deserve to go to hell.” The light that we follow determines our eternal destiny. Is this a true deduction?
2. Why do some of Jesus’s sayings seem obscure?
3. Is it right to ever wonder if there could not have been an easier, less-painful way for God to provide our salvation?
4. Could the Old Testament teaching of not eating blood (Lev. 17:10-14) have caused some Jews to stumble at what Jesus was teaching in today’s lesson?
5. 1 Ray Overholt (1924-2008), “I’m The One,” Hymns for Worship Revised

Source: COGICM Daily Bible Readings (Daily Bible Readings, PO Box 124, Glenn, CA 95943).