Riff's Christian Journal

John 6:53-57 KJV – 53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you.

54 Who ever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

56 He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him.

57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats me, even he shall live because of me.

When was the last time you read these verses or heard a sermon about them? Hard to read and understand were they not.

Some Christian religions say that this is all about the Holy Communion and that the bread and wine actually becomes the body and blood of Jesus, but retain the appearance of the bread and wine.

Another Christian religion believes that the bread and wine themselves do not change into the body and blood of Jesus but coexist with the body and blood of Jesus.

Other Christian religions believe that in taking the bread and wine is only a symbolic way of remembering how Jesus gave up His body and shed His blood for they who would be saved.

However, it may be that these sayings of Jesus had nothing at all to do with Holy Communion. What if I told you that these verses, together, was a metaphor about the basic salvation message of Jesus. Curious? Read on.

Reread the verses again and look not on the body and blood phrases but where it says “have no life in you”, “raise him up the last day”, dwells in me, and I in him”, “shall live because of me”, “shall live for ever”. You just might see a different perspective.

Now, what if I said that there is a single verse, mentioned a little earlier in this chapter, where Jesus says all this very plainly.

Here is that verse: John 6:35 KJV

“And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst.”

In short, eating the body of Jesus is a metaphor for coming to Jesus and drinking His blood is a metaphor for believing on Jesus; they who do come and believe will never hunger and thirst, spiritually, again. How else can we dwell with and have life in Jesus, and live for ever, unless we come to Him and believe on Him.

Jesus could just as easily have stated these same verses in a more simplistic way like this example.

John 6:53-57 KJV – 53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except you come to the the Son of man, and believe on him, you have no life in you.

54 Whoever comes to me, and believes on me, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

55 For my word is food indeed, and believing on me is drink indeed.

56 He that comes to me, and believes on me, dwells in me, and I in him.

57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that comes to me, even he shall live because of me.

Reading these verses like this makes a lot more sense. Just a longer version of verse 35.

The fact that many followers turned away from Him and went away, because of what He said, showed very clearly that they had been following Him for the wrong reasons. Something many followers also do in this day and age. For they never came to Him and believed on Him, in the first place and was given eternal life. They were looking for what they needed and wanted in the here and now.

How about you? Do you still hunger and thirst more for what you think this world can give you now? Hopefully you have come to Jesus, and believed on Him and are now looking forward to life eternal.

“And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst.”