"This is a hard teaching..." This was the feeling of many of your disciples when you stared declaring you're the bread of life in John 6. I'd have to agree. You say, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." This confuses people as they begin to argue, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" It's really a good and legitimate question. Instead of answering the question directly, you only up the ante by saying, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you." Huh. So this wasn't exactly helpful Jesus. People are wondering what you mean by eating your flesh. They want to live forever, and they're believing you're the gateway, but they aren't understanding how to eat you. Saying, "my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink" isn't immediately helpful either. What do you mean by real food and real drink? Last I checked, I couldn't pick up at the grocery story. I can't even get it in the forsaken farm lands of Pullman.
Food and drink are consumable. I need to take you in. I need to get you inside of me. Eating food is usually very easy for me. But this is a different kind of eating. I'm not trained in eating people's flesh and blood, especially someone who has died, but that's right, you're alive! So you say I can eat you. You say I need to. I still don't know how this works. I trust that you will make this happen. Make the words from your life be like my daily peanut butter sandwich. Let your words settle in the heart of my belly. Find your flesh and blood in array of stomach acid and bile.
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