Scripture Daily

Context No. 2550 of 4322 · John

Context · Reflection

John 6:52-59: in context

52The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves. 54He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him. 57As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will also live because of me. 58This is the bread which came down out of heaven—not as our fathers ate the manna and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.” 59He said these things in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.

In the synagogue at Capernaum, Jesus presses a teaching that scandalizes his hearers. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, he says, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on him has eternal life; my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink; the one who eats and drinks abides in me, and I in him. The crowd recoils: how can this man give us his flesh to eat?

However we understand the mystery of these words, their thrust is unmistakable: life in Christ is not admiration from a safe distance but a deep taking-in. He does not ask to be studied or respected; he asks to be received, consumed, made the very sustenance of the one who trusts him. And the promise is mutual indwelling: he who feeds on me lives in me, and I in him. This is far more intimate than agreeing with Jesus or following his example. It is Christ becoming my food, my life drawn from his life, the two joined so closely that I live because of him.

Do I keep Christ at the distance of an idea I admire, or do I take him in as my very sustenance, so that his life becomes mine?

Sources