Feeding on Christ

John 6:54–56 “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”.

Today’s lesson has been at the heart of the debates between different churches over the meaning of the Lord’s Supper. In John 6:22–59, we read that we must feed on the flesh of Christ and drink the blood of Christ to have eternal life.

Luke 22:19-20 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”

Considering that Jesus says the bread and wine of the supper are His body and blood, most interpreters have seen some kind of connection between today’s lesson passage and the Lord’s Supper. Both Roman Catholics and Lutherans read this text as referring to some kind of physical presence of our Savior’s body in the sacrament. According to Roman Catholicism, the essence of the bread and wine becomes the actual body and blood of Jesus without ceasing to look, smell, taste, and feel like bread and wine in transubstantiation. Lutheranism teaches “Consubstantiation”; that the physical body and blood of Jesus are present mysteriously in, with, and under the elements. Most Protestants believe in the "memorialist position", that this observance is a meal in memory of Christ's sacrificed body and blood. Other Protestant religions believe Christ’s presence is not in the elements but in the sacred action in the celebration of the Supper.

Leading Reformed Theologians of the Protestant church have affirmed Christ’s spiritual presence in the supper. Our Savior’s human body is localized outside of the dimension time in Heaven, but Christ (Second Person of the Trinity Godhead) is a divine person who also possesses the true divine nature, which is omnipresent. In His deity, Christ is present everywhere. Since His deity is united to His humanity without confusion, change, division, or separation, we commune with the whole Christ in His humanity and deity when we commune spiritually with the omnipresent Son of God. His human body remains in heaven, but in His deity He can close the gap between us and His human nature in heaven. We cannot say much more about this mystery that we cannot fully comprehend.

The context of today’s lesson passage on the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper shows us that to eat and drink Christ’s flesh and blood is not a carnal act, but rather a spiritual act of trusting in Jesus.

John 6:26-35 “Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

John 6:22–59 parallels the eating that leads to eternal life with belief, making the two things identical. The Lord’s Supper signs and seals this belief, showing that the One in whom we believe is both God and man, having a true human body. We need the humanity of Christ no less than we need His deity, and the physical elements of the supper impress this on our hearts and minds.

There is no other way in which He can become ours, than by our faith being directed to His flesh. Does your spirit hunger? The bread and wine of the supper are God’s seal that those who believe that the God-man (Jesus Christ) suffered as a man for our sins and was raised from the dead, conquering sin and death, that we will live forever. When we take the supper in faith, we are communing with Christ and marked as those who will inherit eternal life.