Reflecting on John 6:25-59“For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.” (John 6:65)
These words sound gross and barbaric, if you only read it literally.
Jesus is once again using extreme language (hyperbole) to make a point.
God’s love is not just an idea or concept, it is very real and tangible.
Israel needed physical food and water to survive in the wilderness.
And we need more than a message about God’s love and forgiveness.
God’s love takes on flesh, and it meets our deepest needs for real.
We need God’s love both body and spirit, and God in Jesus meets our every need.
Physically and spiritually, emotionally, socially and mentally.
To eat and drink Jesus is to accept fully Jesus as He is…
Including His physical presence among sinners, His physical suffering for sinners.
Obviously we do not actually eat Jesus’s flesh, or drink His blood.
But by taking hold of the real Jesus, we are united to the God that we need for life!
I want to know Jesus in the flesh, how He lived and loved, His very real presence!
This is why I spend most of my time with Jesus in the Gospels.
In every Jesus story, I taste and see that the Lord is good!
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, spending time with You is a feast for the soul. You satisfy my every need - physically and spiritually, emotionally, socially and mentally - in a way that nothing else can. Give me today my daily bread!
As I pray the Lord’s prayer, ‘give us this day our daily bread,’ I am reminded of the following hymn, for life without Jesus is death, today and forevermore. That is why I need to practice His way every day as He leads and guides me always.
1 Guide me, O my great Redeemer,
pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but you are mighty;
hold me with your powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven,
feed me now and evermore,
feed me now and evermore.
2 Open now the crystal fountain,
where the healing waters flow.
Let the fire and cloudy pillar
lead me all my journey through.
Strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer,
ever be my strength and shield,
ever be my strength and shield.
3 When I tread the verge of Jordan,
bid my anxious fears subside.
Death of death, and hell’s Destruction,
land me safe on Canaan’s side.
Songs of praises, songs of praises
I will ever sing to you,
I will ever sing to you.