I have noticed that Jesus says some really weird things. I guess it took me a while to notice because of my church background and predisposition to Jesus’ speech. But when I step out of that and try to put myself in that context, I find that Jesus is saying some really, really weird things.
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
If I ever heard anyone say this, I’m not really sure what I would do. I probably wouldn’t give him any credit. I’m sure most of Jesus’ audience thought he was crazy.
I am not going to pretend to understand everything about this, but honestly I don’t want to say its too complex to understand. We know what bread is, and we know what it does. As weird as it may have been, I love it when Jesus speaks in terms of satisfaction. We hunger for food; we thirst for drink. But these things perish, and we hunger and thirst again. How much more do we hunger for food and drink that doesn’t perish but leads to eternal life!
Jesus has given us such food and drink.
Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
There is something undeniably beautiful about these strange words of Jesus. There is something that makes me not stumble at its oddness but run to its wonderfulness.
