Volume 1: Thoughts On Christ Flesh & Blood

This part of the bible confused me for the longest time. But I was reading this passage recently. Then boom I finally understood the passage but I need you to read it before I can elaborate some more.

John 6:32-66

32Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
34"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."
35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
41At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"
43"Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. 44"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47I tell you the truth, he who believes has ever lasting life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. 51I 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."
52Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
53Jesus said to them, "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. 54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." 59He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 60On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
61Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? 62What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. 64Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."
66From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

Before I was like, "What? Eat your flesh and blood?" It was confusing for His disciples and it was confusing for me, too. But now, let me tell you about it since it makes sense. It all starts in verse 35:

“He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never
be thirsty.”

The key word here is believe. Jesus is saying “believe me and you won’t be hungry or thirsty.” He’s talking about spiritual things because He said,

"It was God’s will that who so ever looks on the Son will have eternal life.”

I determined that because He was talking about eternal life and that is a spiritual matter. So believing is like eating the bread of life. Then if you read verse 51:

”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."

He is not literally talking about eating His flesh and blood. He’s talking about believing in Him that He’s the Son of God and the Savior of the world. In my mind I was like, “Wow!” and that was before I read the rest of the passage. If you read verse 63:

"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to
you are spirit and they are life."

It agrees with what I just said – they’re spiritual matters. If some of the disciples that deserted Jesus would have stuck around with Him, they may have understood this. That was huge to me and I hope this will help someone else.

Don’t just listen to my opinions, check the Bible and see for yourself.
S.R. Harris