Volume 39: Learning How To Eat

LEARNING HOW TO EAT

As we continue our journey through Scripture, there is an important lesson we have to learn: how to eat.

That may sound strange, but the Bible repeatedly uses the physical act of eating to communicate the spiritual act of receiving something into ourselves. And perhaps nowhere is this more challenging—or more powerful—than John 6.

The sixth chapter of John provides a chronological breakdown of what can make people walk away from Jesus. Ultimately, the problem was not that Jesus had nothing to give them. They did not understand how to eat what He was giving them.

Look at the progression:

Jesus feeds the 5,000 (John 6:1–14).
The people want to force Him to become king (John 6:15).
Jesus walks on the water (John 6:16–21), the same event in which Matthew tells us Peter also walked on the water (Matthew 14:22–33).
Jesus gives the Bread of Life teaching (John 6:22–59).
Many disciples leave Him because they consider His teaching too difficult (John 6:60–66).
Peter declares his commitment to Christ (John 6:67–69).

Don’t miss what happened.

The same people who were excited when Jesus gave them physical bread struggled when Jesus told them that He was the bread.

They knew how to eat naturally. They didn’t understand how to eat spiritually.

FROM “COME” TO “WHERE SHALL WE GO?”

There is a beautiful connection between Peter walking on the water in Matthew 14 and Peter’s declaration in John 6.

When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the sea, they were troubled and thought they were seeing a spirit. Peter then said, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water” (Matthew 14:28).

Jesus answered with one word: “Come” (Matthew 14:29). Peter stepped out of the ship and went toward Jesus.

Isaiah 55:3 gives us a powerful biblical picture of what it means to “come” to God spiritually.

After the Bread of Life teaching, many of Jesus’ disciples responded, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” (John 6:60).

Eventually: “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” (John 6:66)

Jesus turned to the twelve and asked, “Will ye also go away?” (John 6:67).

Peter answered: “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)

Think about that progression.

In Matthew 14, Peter “comes” to Jesus physically. In John 6, Peter refuses to leave Jesus spiritually.

Earlier, Jesus said, “Come,” and Peter came. Now others are leaving, and Peter essentially says, Where else would I go?

And notice what Peter identifies as the reason for staying: “Thou hast the WORDS of eternal life.”

That matters because Jesus had already explained: “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the WORDS that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63)

Peter understood something the departing disciples were missing. Jesus was teaching them how to eat.

THE BREAD OF LIFE

Jesus said: “I am the bread of life: he that COMETH to me shall never hunger; and he that BELIEVETH on me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)

This gives us an important interpretive key for understanding the language that follows.

COME — never hunger.
BELIEVE — never thirst.

Later Jesus says: “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” (John 6:53)

If we isolate that statement from everything surrounding it, we can easily misunderstand what Jesus is communicating. But proper hermeneutics requires us first to allow the immediate context, and then Scripture as a whole, to help interpret His words.

Jesus is not describing physically consuming His human body. He is describing receiving Him by faith so completely that His life becomes the source of ours.

This is spiritual nourishment.
And this language did not begin in John 6.

THE BIBLE HAD ALREADY TAUGHT THEM HOW TO EAT

Throughout Scripture, eating is used as imagery for receiving God’s Word.

Jeremiah said: “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.” (Jeremiah 15:16)

Jeremiah wasn’t physically chewing words. He was receiving them inwardly.

God told Ezekiel: “Son of man… eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.” (Ezekiel 3:1)

Again, God’s prophet was being shown through prophetic imagery that God’s message had to be received before it could be delivered.

John experiences similar imagery in Revelation when he is commanded: “Take it, and eat it up.” (Revelation 10:9)

And Jesus Himself had already declared: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

There is natural bread, and there is spiritual bread. Your physical body requires food to live, but Jesus teaches us that our spiritual life requires nourishment too.

THE WORD BECAME FLESH

John began his Gospel by telling us: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

Then: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14)

Now follow the progression carefully:

The Word
Became flesh
Gave His flesh for the life of the world
Must be received by faith

Jesus says: “And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51)

The Word became flesh, and that flesh would ultimately be offered in sacrifice.

So when Jesus speaks about eating His flesh, He is not suddenly introducing cannibalism. He is using physical imagery to communicate a profound spiritual reality about receiving the life that He would give through His sacrifice.

THEN WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO DRINK HIS BLOOD?

The blood takes us directly to sacrifice. Long before Calvary, God declared: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood.” (Leviticus 17:11)

Then at the Last Supper, Jesus took the cup and said, “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28)

His blood is connected with life given.
His blood speaks of sacrifice.
His blood speaks of forgiveness.
His blood establishes the new covenant.

Therefore, to spiritually drink His blood is to receive by faith the life, forgiveness, and covenant made possible through His sacrificial death.

WHY WAS THIS SUCH A “HARD SAYING”?

The disciples responded, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” (John 6:60)

And that is understandable if they were hearing Jesus only through a natural lens.

If you hear “eat my flesh” and “drink my blood” merely physically, the language sounds horrifying.

But Jesus immediately points them beyond the physical: “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63)

There it is. Spirit. Words. Life. They were hearing physical words without understanding the spiritual reality those words communicated.

And because they could not receive what Jesus was saying, they walked away from the One who was trying to feed them.

EATING AND DRINKING IN SIMPLE TERMS

Let’s first be clear: Jesus said it the way He did because there was nothing simple about what He was going to suffer.

His body would be beaten.
His flesh would be wounded.
His blood would be shed.
His life would be given as a sacrifice.

So we should never make His language casual simply because we understand that it is spiritual. But we can make its meaning understandable.

To EAT His flesh is to COME AND RECEIVE Christ—the living Word—as your spiritual nourishment, and you will never hunger.

To DRINK His blood is to BELIEVE BY FAITH in the life, forgiveness, and covenant made possible through His sacrifice, and you will never thirst.

That is why John 6:35 is so important: “He that COMETH to me shall never hunger; and he that BELIEVETH on me shall never thirst.”

And suddenly, with this understanding, Peter’s response becomes even more powerful.

While others walked away because they couldn’t understand what Jesus was feeding them, Peter stayed and said: “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.”

Peter had learned something every disciple eventually has to learn:

When God’s Word becomes difficult to understand, don’t walk away from the table. Stay long enough to learn how to eat.