"He who eats this bread will live forever"

Scripture: John 6:51-58

51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 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 you; 54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever."

Meditation: Why did Jesus offer himself as “food and drink” for his disciples? The Jews were scandalized and the disciples were divided when Jesus said "unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.” What a hard saying, unless one understands who Jesus truly is and why he calls himself the bread of life. The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, when Jesus said the blessing, broke and distributed the loaves through his disciples to feed the multitude, prefigured the superabundance of the unique bread of the Eucharist, or Lord’s Supper. The Gospel of John has no account of the Last Supper meal (just the foot washing ceremony and Jesus' farewell discourse). Instead, John quotes extensively from Jesus' teaching on the bread of life.

In the Old Covenant bread and wine were offered in sacrifice as a sign of grateful acknowledgment to God as the Creator of all. Melchizedek, who was both priest and king in the Old Covenant offered a sacrifice of bread and wine (Genesis 14:18). He prefigured the Lord Jesus who made the perfect offering of himself as our eternal high priest and king. When the Israelites wandered without food in the wilderness, God gave them manna from heaven to keep them alive. This miracle recalled for the people of Israel that it's very soul and life depended on the bread of the Word of God (Deuteronomy 8:3).When Jesus described his blood “poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” at his Last Supper meal with the disciples (Matthew 26:28), he was pointing to his coming crucifixion as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. His death on the cross fulfilled the sacrifice of the paschal lamb in Egypt which spared the Israelites from slavery and destruction in Egypt. That is why John the Baptist called Jesus the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Jesus made himself an offering and sacrifice, a gift that was truly pleasing to the Father. He “offered himself without blemish to God” (Hebrews 9:14) and “gave himself as a sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2).

Jesus chose the time of Passover to fulfill what he had announced at Capernaum – giving his disciples his body and his blood as the true sacrificial meal that would deliver them from eternal death and destruction. The new Passover, when Jesus’ passing over to his Father by his death and resurrection, is anticipated in the Last Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the church in the glory of God’s kingdom at the end of the ages. When the Lord Jesus commands his disciples to eat his flesh and drink his blood, he invites us to take his life into the very center of our being. That life which he offers is the very life of God himself. Do you hunger for the true bread of life?

"Lord Jesus, you nourish and sustain us with your very own presence and life. You are the bread of life ” the bread that sustains us now and that produces everlasting life in us. May I always hunger for you and be satisfied in you alone."

Psalm 147:12-15,19-20

12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your sons within you.
14 He makes peace in your borders; he fills you with the finest of the wheat.
15 He sends forth his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
19 He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the LORD!