Welcome to a new year! If you’re like me, you just celebrated the holidays, meaning you just spent a couple of months eating more food than you ever should eat. Why do you think food is so often a part of our celebrations in life?
When you think of Scripture, what memorable meals come to mind?
There are many meaningful and symbolic meals such as the Feast of Booths and the Feast of Tabernacles that were enjoyed by saints in the Bible, however the most meaningful meal found in Scripture is the Lord’s Supper. Celebrating communion reminds the church that its existence and thriving is dependent the death and resurrection of Christ.
Yes, I am the bread of life! Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.” Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.
John 6:48-29 (NLT)
So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever.”
He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
What makes Jesus’ words in this passage seem strange? Why would this be particularly shocking for the Jews?
What does eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking His blood mean?
What is the result of eating and drinking Jesus’ body and blood?
The first part of this passage seems so strange. It is hard to fathom someone wanting to be eaten by others, let alone promote it as the path to life. Yet Jesus is speaking metaphorically to a group that should have understood Him, as He had just recently miraculously fed them from a few fish and a few loaves of bread. This group was pursuing Jesus so that He could continue to supply bread for them, but what they needed was Jesus Himself. Eating Jesus’ blood means that we are to fully trust in Him and let Him be the source of sustenance and life in us. This would be a terribly difficult saying for the Jews because they could not see Jesus for who He really was, but only for who they wanted Him to be.
Look at this statement one more time:
I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me.
John 6:57 NLT
What is Jesus saying here?
What was Jesus’ talking about when He said “the bread the fathers ate”? Why does Jesus talk about manna in this moment?
How is Jesus different from manna? How is He better?
Jesus equated our living in Him with His living in the Father. This is a powerful and significant truth about our relationship with Jesus and His relationship to the Father, and it says much about the nature of trust we must have in Him. He cares for us as the Father cares for Him. Therefore, we are to trust Him as the Son trusts the Father. By appealing to the story of the Exodus and God’s provision of manna, Jesus shows how He is the better provision for God’s people. Their need is not physical, but spiritual. The same is true for us today.
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1 John 4:7-12 NLT
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
In verse 10 (bold, above) Does John really claim that our love for God is not real love? Look at his contrast… What do you think about that?
If our salvation were based upon our love for God, could we ever be certain of our salvation?
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT
If this is true, what is the certainty of our salvation?
If salvation were based upon our love for God, we could never be certain of our salvation because our love is fickle. We can be sure of our salvation because God freely offers us His love and begins a relationship with us by His own initiative.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
Romans 3:23-25 ESV
The word “propitiation” (hilasmos) literally means “a sacrifice that bears God’s wrath and turns it into favor.” This means that when Jesus was on the cross He was taking the punishment that we deserve for sin. While on the cross, He said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). God was punishing Him for our sins and Jesus was submitting Himself to the Father’s will so that our sins might be forgiven (Luke 22:42). There is no greater act of love in the history of the universe.
Why isn’t it enough to just “know” that God loves us? Why is it important to fully see the importance of the sacrifice of His Son?
How should this change our day to day life? How should we respond?
Why is the blood of Christ called “good news”? How might considering what Christ accomplished for you on the cross give you confidence in your walk with Christ?
Let’s pray together, thanking God for sending Jesus to be the propitiation for our sins. Pray that we would joyfully partake in communion with other believers, joining ourselves to Christ in salvation and joining Him in His kingdom work.