When Jesus says "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you," is He talking about Communion?
Personally, I don't believe so. Instead, I think these are parallel teachings. Jesus' statement here is a way of expressing the deep truth which Communion also demonstrates more tangibly: that our relationship with Jesus must be so close and intimate that it is as if we are feeding upon Him and quenching our thirst with Him.
I love how Jesus infuses essential, well-known concepts with new spiritual meaning. He offers living water. He is bread from heaven. (Spoiler alert: More are coming!)
One last note: I always find it fascinating that the people were ready to come and make Jesus "king by force" (6:15). A little strange, isn't it, that the people thought they could force Jesus to be their king? Doesn't that imply that they could also impose the limits of His kingship upon them? Is Jesus truly our King if it's at our discretion and whim? It seems to me that a true King would be yielded to for His will to be done, rather than our own.
Is your relationship with Jesus so intimate that you depend upon Him as one depends upon food in this life? Do you feed on Christ for your spiritual nourishment?
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