You think you are literally eating the body and blood of Jesus Christ?
Thats the #1 reason followers dumped Jesus. Had he been symbolic its nothing "crazier" then what he stated prior.
John 5 Jesus is claiming to be God.
17But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”
Equal with God great.
23so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
No problem no one leaves.
24“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
Sounds GOOD.
26“For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;
Amen no problem
John 6
51“I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
52Then the Jews
began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us
His flesh to eat?”
No one had a problem with him calling himself God and equating himself as God, Neither do you Jon.
We see John 4
31Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”
33So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him
anything to eat, did he?”
34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.
Jesus is not a snob if they don't "get it". Like right here he explains.
Same group, Same disciples. ARE NOW STUNNED, Because he means it.
His disciples KNOW the way Jesus is, accepted all the claims before, clearly understand metaphors and symbolisms.
BUT THE FORK HIT THE FAN in JOHN 6
52Then the Jews
began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us
His flesh to eat?”
53So 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.
Jesus Christ is not a megalomaniac, He is not a SPIRITUAL SNOB stomping on people, All he is doing is telling the truth.
If he was being symbolic no one would have left, no reason to , nothing "crazier" said then before.
55“For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
60Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard
this said, “This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?”
61But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble?
62“
What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?
Now here is a important part people miss. Jesus has done this sort of thing before. Where he uses a MIRACLE to PROVE something EXTRA-ORDINARY.
They can't believe they can eat his body and blood, to help them believe they can he challenges ,
What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?
Example where he did this sort of thing before:
5“Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’?
6“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.”
The HUGE miracle isn't the guy walking, its that HE can forgive sins.
And he is going to use the ASCENSION to HEAVEN to prove THE REAL PRESENCE, that you really do have to eat his body and drink his blood.
He's proving something CANT BE PROVEN on sight with a MIRACLE you DO SEE. If it were just symbolism NO BODY would have had a problem with that.
I can forgive sins, don't believe me? Well what if I tell this guy to get up and walk.
You must eat my body and drink my blood, Don't believe me? Well what if you see me ascend back into heaven?
