Jesus' Response to the Crowd's Uproar
"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." Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" (John 6:51-52)
According to the Greek, the Jews had "grumbled" in "a low tone" when Jesus said he came down from heaven (#1111). Now they engage in an out-loud "war of words", "quarreling" in an full-fledged argument (#3164).
In any heated argument there are strongly held views. What positions were advanced in this debate? The first side appears provided to us by the text. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat? (He is wicked, insane, or both! First the nonsense that he came down from heaven, but now the abomination of cannibalism!)"
It seems natural that others would come to Jesus' defense, saying, "Calm down! The Teacher must be using a new (and regrettably confusing) figure of speech. Of course he doesn't want us to really eat his flesh."
How does Jesus respond to this furor over "eating his flesh"? Does he clarify himself and affirm a "symbolic" interpretation that the crowd will find acceptable? No. Jesus does not take the way out offered to him. He becomes even more insistent about eating his flesh, adding that they must drink his blood as well. Jesus is pounding away his point here, and it does not appear symbolic.
So 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. "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever." (John 6:53-58)
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(Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.)
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