John 6:51-59. Real Communion
“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.” Charles Kingsley
“A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder - a waif, a nothing, a no man. Have a purpose in life, and, having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.” Thomas Carlyle
The Core Christian Message
So may people are unsure what life is really for, it is a mystery to them. Yet the core of the Christian message is,
“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27
The apostle Paul had no doubt what his purpose was,
“For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21
When you read through John’s gospel one word keeps recurring - ‘believe’. Take a concordance and look up the word ‘believe’ in just John’s gospel and the purpose of his book becomes abundantly clear. The reason he wrote about Jesus was that all might believe in him and so receive eternal life. For example,
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:18
John summarises the purpose of his gospel in these terms,
“These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:31
There is now so much misunderstanding about what ‘belief’ means; is it just an intellectual acceptance or is it more? I had a patient come to my clinic who was wearing a beautiful silver cross round her neck. After chatting a while I said,
“That a beautiful cross. Excuse me asking but does that mean you are a Christian?”
“Yes,” she said hesitantly, ‘but it depends what you mean by a Christian.”
“Surely it is someone who is sold out to the Lord Jesus.”
“Oh, then I’m not.”
To be sold out to Jesus means to have communion with him throughout our lives – we feed on him. Yet today there is much confusion about how people ‘feed on Christ’ and it largely comes from a misunderstanding of this passage in John chapter 6.
Wherever Jesus’ teaching is discussed either arguments develop or people retreat and hide from the subject. It happened then and it happens now. Jesus had just made a profound statement:
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live for ever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” John 6:51
The response of most of the Jews was utter disbelief and arguments started:
“Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” John 6:52
Jesus often used figurative language about himself that sometimes his listeners fail to understand. Thus when Jesus told the eminent Jewish leader, Nicodemus, that he must be ‘born again’, the Senior cleric replied,
“How can someone be born when they are old? . . . Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born.” John 3:4-5
Jesus explained that he was talking spiritually, about a new start that centres on living with and for him! In this passage Jesus repeats and summarises his essential message.
1. Jesus alone offers real food to all
Jesus continues with a food analogy,
“For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.” John 6:55
Jesus now begins increasingly to use adjectives or adverbs to stress that what he is saying is unique. Thus later he says,
“I am the true vine.” John 15:1
What Jesus is offering is both true and substantial. He really does satisfy those who take him in. He contrasts what he has come to deliver with the temporary benefits of the Old Covenant.
“This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live for ever.” John 6:58
There are many blessings offered to God’s people in the Old Testament but these pale into insignificance when God’s Messiah appears on earth. Jesus is trying to wean them away from the Old Covenant and show them that all the promises given to a few in the past are now available to everyone. Here Jesus is not speaking symbolically but is offering a substantial experience to everyone who comes to God on his terms. Jesus is saying that they ate manna and died, but that now all people can eat and live. What a disaster it is for people to rely on their religion and not on Christ.
To understand what Jesus is saying is a real turning point. This supernatural food, this bread, will give us life in a new dimension in life, both now and in the world to come.
If this is true, then the main purpose of the church is to offer this bread to the world; it is real spiritual food. Of course the world needs physical food and drink too. It is ironic that there are butter and beef mountains whilst millions are physically starving just as the church has the information whilst people are spiritually starving. The church’s main priority cannot be just to alleviate physical and social needs. It must be the same as that of Jesus, the salvation of souls.
It is so easy for church groups to move away from gospel priorities and focus on humanitarian projects instead of what Jesus focussed on. A new Christian in our church volunteered to work in a local Food Bank. She was talking with a lonely widow and mentioned the help she had received from our church and gave her the details. This conversation was overheard by a supervisor who later reprimanded her volunteer in strong terms.
‘Talking about religion is not what we are here for. Don’t do it again!’
‘But I was only sharing with her how I have found to help. How can that be wrong?’
This example is particularly upsetting as the Trussell Trust began as a Christian organisation, an organisation that should be offering the ‘bread of life’.
Although some church leaders move their churches away from addressing man’s spiritual need, the presence of this need is increasingly obvious. Some years ago a chain letter was being passed around Russia announcing that God had appeared to a twelve year old boy announcing the end of the world. The Kremlin authorities became concerned, which is extraordinary; why worry about something so quaint. An announcement was made,
“The Soviet press has expressed growing alarm lately over the appeal of religious belief amongst Russians, especially the young.”
Young people were turning to religion because,
‘They found consolation and understanding in the church that are absent from state institutions.”
In other words they are saying that in spite of all these years of communist domination they haven’t been able to offer any bread to feed the soul and give hope for the future. No wonder the authorities are worried when the young turn for sustenance to the church. Their churches may not be very alive but there are crumbs even in the deadest of churches. They offer more than the bleak meal found outside.
Some years ago a group from St Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate went to spend a weekend working in a boys’ borstal. At one meal time there was an open discussion at the dining table about whether God existed. Most were unsure. Then the subject turned to whether the Devil existed. Everyone at the table was certain, he did really exist. They had all experimented with spiritualism, ouija boards and the like and they were terrified.
There is an astonishing growth in Black Magic in our society today. Mail order companies have up to three thousand different books on Black Magic on their shelves. One of those running such a company openly call herself a witch. One company claims to have 20,000 customers on their books. This is a serious problem if people are turning in to black magic to find satisfaction. Are the churches not making it abundantly clear that Jesus offers both truth and real, permanent, edifying satisfaction?
What a joy it is to go to some churches that are packed out with young people, coming to learn from the Bible what God wants us to understand. If true bread is offered, young people want to know about it. Jesus does offer real food, but it must be obvious in Christians’ lives that we have been changed by eating this food ourselves.
Jesus must die for this real food to be available
Jesus teaches that his flesh is the bread that we must rely on.
“This bread is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world.” John 6:51
When Jesus talks about his ‘flesh; he is talking about his ‘death’ allegorically.
It is significant that when Jesus’ listeners become antagonistic he moves to teaching in parables. This may be because direct talk could result in an angry revolt. There is also a graciousness in doing so as it enables troubled listeners to both remember and later digest the implications of what he is saying. He is talking to those who are later going to accuse him and cause his crucifixion so he explains this key teaching about his death in the vivid language of flesh and blood.
‘Flesh and blood’ when combined means ‘full of life’. ‘Flesh’ and ‘blood’ when separated indicates ‘death’. If someone talks about a person’s blood being shed they are indicating a violent death. When someone talks about the flesh of a person or animal it invariably means they are dead. This is surely why, when we take communion we take the bread, representing Christ’s flesh, separately from the wine, representing his blood. It is symbolically saying that we must partake of the death of Jesus if we are to enjoy life for our souls.
This is startling teaching. It is the total opposite of current ideas that mystical experiences or transcendental meditation can ever put us right with a holy, omnipotent God. ‘India’ is a book by Mrs Indira Gandhi. It has many photos of religious Indians, some are meditating, some in a Yoga poise sitting with their legs crossed, and others are washing in the river Ganges. Jesus cuts across such mystical notions. There is no road to eternal life through endless washings in a river or meditation; the only way is through the bloody death of Jesus on Calvary. Jesus has no sympathy to the thinking of ancient worlds or much of the world today.
This is an uncomfortable thought, flesh must be sacrificed and blood poured out in agony if the world is to have the chance of life. The bloody sacrifices of animals throughout the ancient world taught this lesson – all these sacrifices look forwards to the death of God’s one Messiah, the Lord Jesus. The death of an animal is only a picture of what Christ will achieve, of themselves they can only act as reminders of our need for forgiveness. Jesus’ death is pertinent for all time. This is why there is no place for sacrifices today, either in other religions or in churches. As Peter says,
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” 1 Peter 3:18
Jesus is saying that he offers all people real food, but this sustenance is only available through his death and resurrection. Jesus wants to give the benefits of his death to all who will accept him as their Lord and Saviour.
The emphasis in this chapter is on the role of God’s activity in an individuals’ salvation. Unless God moves and wakes us up to both the problem of our sin and the importance of Jesus death for us, no-one will turn to Christ. All of us are too wrapped up in ourselves and our sin to be interested in God. They may enjoy the company of Christians for a while but this will pass unless there is real supernatural work of God in a person’s heart.
But this chapter also emphasises, emphatically, that each human is also responsible for their own salvation.
“Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never go thirsty.” John 6:35
“ . . . whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” John 6:37
“ . . . that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life.” John 6:40
“Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.” John 6:45
We must listen to God and act on what he says if we are to be saved. If we cannot be bothered to learn we will never find eternal life. Jesus emphasised our responsibility when he said,
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7
There is far too much passivity in Christians’ lives today. An ancient Chinese proverb that is relevant:
“Man stand long time with mouth wide open, waiting for roast duck to fly in!”
Christian belief is not passive. It is not enough to say, ‘Oh, I believe that”; it is vital that we go on ‘eating’, which means go on being sustained by Christ in our day to day lives.
This is the warning given in the parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-20). Many will hear the gospel, some will respond for a while but only a minority will go on with Christ to produce fruit for him.
The Meaning of Communion
In the early church some people were beginning to have the idea that eating the bread and wine in a communion service automatically gave people salvation, quite apart from the recipients’ spiritual understanding and condition. When John wrote his gospel he clearly had such people in mind. People have always misunderstood what Jesus meant by eating his flesh and blood.
“Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh?” John 6:52
At first sight it does appear that Jesus could be talking literally but clearly ‘cannibalism’ was not in his mind. The teaching that the bread and wine changes its substance into the body and blood of Christ when it is blessed during a communion service, is taken from a literal understanding of this passage. This is called is called ‘transubstantiation’. However Jesus makes his meaning clear later when he explains that he is speaking spiritually,
“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you – they are full of Spirit and life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” John 6:63-64
John is not talking about a church service but about a commitment to follow and live for the Lord Jesus. The whole of John’s gospel is about the necessity of having a real faith in Jesus if we are to be saved. John wants people to enjoy a saving relationship with Jesus and not to think that church rituals can save anybody.
The Bible teaches that Christ’s body ascended into heaven, which is where he now lives. We will see him there. Archbishop Cranmer was clear that Jesus cannot be both in heaven and earth at the same time. Christ’s body cannot be both in heaven and on a Holy Table. It cannot therefore be Jesus’ meaning that ‘eating his body’ is meant to be understood literally. It is symbolic language that refers to the reality that Christ died for us, to give us salvation.
Some have argued that this language in John 6 is symbolic and refers to the Lord’s supper. But the Lord’s supper is itself symbolic and points to the death of Christ for us. So how could this be symbolic of another form of symbolism? The clear answer is that both John 6 and the Lord’s supper both refer to the reality of Christ dying on that cross as our substitute. There he took responsibility for our sin.
If this passage is understood literally, that in the Lord’s supper we are given Christ’s flesh and blood, then the following verse would be saying that everybody who has shared in the ‘communion’ has eternal life.
“Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” John 6:53
Such a doctrine goes against everything Jesus teaches about the necessity of having a new birth and a new heart. Surely the truth is that John is warning us not to rely on eating bread and wine in the Lord’s supper as a means of salvation. Jesus is referring to his own sacrificial death for us.
It is highly significant that John omits to record any account of the bread and wine in the Last Supper. Instead he gives us four chapters on what Jesus taught during the last supper. This must be deliberate, he wants to redress the false emphasis on the necessity of the regular receiving of eucharist for salvation that was beginning to be taught in some churches. The whole point is to focus on who Jesus is and therefore on what he won for us on that cross.
John wants us all to ask ourselves, ‘Have I taken myself to Calvary?’ ‘Have I knelt at the foot of the cross and turned back from my rebellion against God and his Son?’ or am I still hiding behind the petticoats of the church. John spiritualises both baptism and the Lord’s supper. He doesn’t abolish these but makes it plain that going through the waters of baptism of itself does not give anybody eternal life. As John explained to Nicodemus, in John chapter 3, a new birth is necessary, our religion, however virtuous and sincere we are, cannot save us. The new birth occurs when we believe in Jesus. Taking the bread and wine of itself gives us nothing unless it signifies that we have turned to Christ and are dependent on his death for us.
The English word ‘eucharist’ is derived from a Greek work meaning ‘to thank’. As we remember what Christ has done for us on that cross we should be full of thankfulness. When Jesus instituted the Communion Service he said,
“ . . . do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19
We cannot re-enact that sacrifice in our church services but we must remember it. Peter wrote,
“Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” 1 Peter 3:18
Application
Most young people are ‘looking for life.’ No-one should wait until they are elderly to discover that the world cannot give it. Jesus Christ came to give us life and give it abundantly,
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10
All of John’s gospel is saying the same thing. Jesus is the source of life – he is the real ‘bread’. If anyone wants life, Jesus is where it can be found. No-one should believe the devils lies that life can be found without Christ and it cannot be found in religion either.
This passage has much to say to communicant church members. John would warn us against excessive veneration of the bread and wine and excessive dependence on repetitive communion services. The number of services a person attends does not reflect their devotion to Jesus. The great Bible teacher Dick Lucas, when a youngster, was brought up to attend communion services devoutly. But at the time he understood nothing of what it symbolised and pointing him to. The communion service was an end in itself, the focus was on the service and not on the Saviour and his death.
Hans Christian Andersen tells the story of a king who had, what he thought to be, a marvellous suit of clothes made of invisible thread. He marches through the town showing it off to everybody around. The people bowed down and said how wonderful the king looked. But then a child looked out of a window and said,
“Mother, he hasn’t got anything on!”
Sometimes in life we can wake up to the fact that we’ve been churchgoers but actually we are wearing nothing. We have not yet found the reality. The Bible teaches that this reality is in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and him crucified. We can each discover this if we come, look, learn, believe and eat – of which the Lord’s supper is a wonderful picture and symbol.
BVP
