A Bit Hard To Swallow

Today I am looking at John 6: 51-60 and clearly both ordinary listeners and even Jesus’ disciples find what he is saying a bit hard to swallow. Jesus is continuing his theme, which he has been developing throughout the chapter, that he is the bread of life which comes down from heaven. He is clearly using a common metaphor which is familiar to his listeners and to the early church, who are listening to this being read in their worship experiences. His “on the spot” listeners would understand that Jesus was referring to the Manna which God provided during their forefathers’ time in the wilderness, following their exodus from Egypt. The people of the early church would understand that Jesus is also talking about the Communion service, when he talked about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. His “on the spot” listeners had no idea and found it all a bit hard to swallow. In fact some of his disciples stopped following him because of this. Maybe like the Romans they misunderstood Jesus’ words as cannibalism. Tacitus was a Roman historian who was writing in about 112AD about the burning of Rome, “Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the exquisite torture on a class hated for their abominations, called Christian by the populace.” They were convicted, “not so much of the crime of arson, as of hatred of the human race.” Leon Morris, the Bible commentator, says the language in the text is absolutely literal in its phrasing so it is no wonder that they misunderstood. Chadwick, the Historian, tells us that the Romans thought that universal love was incest and the communion was cannibalism. What Jesus is saying is something like, “You are what you eat,” and I am the source and sustenance for Eternal life so, “Eat me.”
Adrian