City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

⁵³ 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 yourselves. ⁵⁴ The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵ For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, the one who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down out of heaven, not as the fathers ate and died; the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

⁵⁹ These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

⁶⁰ So then many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This statement is very ^[a]unpleasant; who can listen to it?” ⁶¹ But Jesus, aware that His disciples were complaining about this, said to them, “Is this ^[b]offensive to you? ⁶² What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? ⁶³ It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh provides no benefit; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are life. ⁶⁴ But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was who would ^[c]betray Him. ⁶⁵ And He was saying, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

⁶⁶ As a result of this many of His disciples left, and would no longer walk with Him. ⁶⁷ So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to leave also, do you?” ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ And we have already believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”

John 6:53-69

Commentary

When I was a young Christian, still attending the Catholic church in which I had been raised, I began reading Catholic theologians to understand more about God, and I read their explanation of this passage of Scripture. They argued that Jesus telling His followers to eat His flesh and drink His blood was proof of transubstantiation—the Catholic belief that the bread and wine in communion actually become the body and blood of Jesus. They contended Jesus must have been speaking literally because when His followers began to leave saying “This is a hard saying,” Jesus did not run after them saying, “Come back. You’ve misunderstood. I was only speaking metaphorically.” 

As I teenager, I found this a compelling argument. I’ve now thought better of it. I now believe Catholic theologians made the same error they so often accuse Evangelicals of making: taking a part the Bible literally that was meant metaphorically. Regardless of whether one interprets Jesus’ words literally or metaphorically though, one can understand the response of Jesus’ disciples: “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” (John 6:60). As a result, many of Jesus’ disciples “turned away and deserted Him” (John 6:66). 

Jesus didn’t run after those who deserted Him after this hard saying but not because He was speaking literally. He knew if His followers were willing to leave because they were offended or didn’t understand something He said, they would leave eventually anyway. Jesus was looking for those who trusted Him not those who understood everything He said. Peter gave the proper response when Jesus asked the twelve if they were leaving too: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69). Peter knew Jesus and trusted Him; he didn’t have to fully understand everything.

Application

People stop following Jesus because of things they don’t understand. Whether it is the problem of pain, the doctrine of hell, or something they had hoped and prayed for that didn’t turn out, people fall away. Sometimes they say, like the disciples who deserted Jesus, “This is hard to understand; how can anyone accept it.” But if we know Jesus and trust Him, we don’t have to understand everything.

In fact, if Jesus is God, why should we expect to understand everything He says or does? To the contrary, we should be suspect of any religion that proffers a god, whose every action or thought could be understood by man. Such a facile theology is the hallmark of man-made religions and Greek mythologies, not of the Creator of the universe.

We don’t have to understand everything to understand anything, and we don’t have to understand everything to understand one thing: that Jesus has the words of eternal life. 

Prayer

Lord, help me to trust when I don’t understand. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.