Hello MS,
John six is all about Jesus as the true Manna yes indeed.
The wafer does not transform into the real body,
We are to feed on Jesus and His word spiritually.
Tie for a
Bible lesson . . .
In
John 6:53, Jesus stated in no uncertain terms:
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”
It is interesting to note that the
usual Greek word used for human eating is
“phagon”, however, this is not the word used in these passages. St. John uses the word,
“trogon”, which means,
"to munch or to gnaw" - like an
animal eats. John using
hyperbole to drive his point across so that the crowd would understand that he was
not speaking
metaphorically. Jesus
meant what he said.
Just as the
Paschal Lamb was to be
eaten, it is also true for the
Lamb of God.
In verse
60, his disciples said,
"This saying is hard; who can accept it?"
Did Jesus explain what he
"really" meant? No, he said:
"Does this shock you?" He
knew that some would not believe because they
didn't have true faith from the Father.
This is why his followers
abandoned him and returned to their former way of life in verse
66. This verse says,
“As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.”
This marks the
only time in Scripture where Jesus' disciples left him for
doctrinal reasons. They simply
couldn't handle what Jesus was telling them.
It is also important to note what happened
AFTER this. Did Jesus plead with them or
explain that he was speaking
“metaphorically” or
“symbolically”?
NO. He turned to the Apostles and said,
"Do you also want to leave?" He didn't explain to
them either - like He
ALWAYS did.
Here it is
completely evident - except to those who
refuse to see - that Jesus
meant what he said.
