EAT HIS FLESH? DRINK HIS BLOOD? ... JESUS TALKED BOLDLY

 What type of fish did Jesus multiply when he used “two small fishes” and five barley loaves to feed a crowd on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (John, chapter 6)?  

Writer Mohan Anthony says it’s better that the Bible didn’t tell the kind of fish Jesus multiplied because some folk would have made that kind of fish into an idol, or erected shrines to it, or held feasts for it, much to God’s displeasure.

John 6 also tells that the disciples boarded a ship without Jesus, who stayed to pray. Night fell and the sea roiled as a strong wind blew. The disciples rowed three or four miles and then saw Jesus walking on the water. Frightened, they heard Jesus say, “It is I, do not be afraid.” They took him into the boat.  

In Feb. 1999, the L.A. Times printed this headline: “You Too Can Walk on Water: Tourists will soon be able to simulate Jesus’ walking on water on the Sea of Galilee.”

The article says, “Israel’s National Parks Authority authorized construction of a submerged bridge in the lake, which has been a pilgrimage site since at least the 3rd century.”

They planned to build a 13-foot-wide, 28-foot-long, crescent-shaped floating bridge to be submerged two inches below water, able to accommodate up to 50 people. To enhance the “walking on water” effect, the bridge was to have no rails, but lifeguards and boats were to be on hand in case a walker slipped off.

I don’t think that bridge was built. It sounded like a bad idea for a tourist trap — and was perhaps sacrilegious. “Sacrilege” is “a violation or misuse of what is regarded as sacred.” 

In John 6, Jesus also said, preaching in the Capernaum synagogue, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe” (ESV). 

That didn’t sit well with the Jews. They grumbled about Jesus saying he was “the bread that came down from heaven.” 

They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”   

Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” 

Jesus said again, “I am the bread of life.” (Jesus was born in Bethlehem. “Bethlehem” means “house of bread.”)

Then Jesus told them that their ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, and they died, but that he was the bread that came down from heaven — the bread they could eat and NOT die.

“If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh,” Jesus said.

That threw the Jews into a tizzy. They said, among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 

Jesus went further, raising some of their blood pressures!  

“Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you,” he said. “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

That sounded like cannibalism: the practice of eating the flesh of one’s own species. But Jesus was speaking about spiritual matters. 

Many disciples quit following Jesus after his talk about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. Jesus said to his chosen 12 disciples, “Do you want to go away as well?” 

Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

  Some may follow Jesus for loaves and fish. Some may be intrigued by his miracles and his walking on water. But Jesus is the Living Bread. “Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever,” he said.