Digging Deeper: The Hungry Feeding the Hungry
56 “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 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. 58 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.”
John 6:56-58 (ESV)
THE HUNGRY FEEDING THE HUNGRY
I know some of this passage is a little difficult (and a little creepy) to comprehend. How do we “feed” on Christ’s flesh, and “drink” his blood? Barclay uses this analogy to try and explain:
“Here in a bookcase is a book which a man has never read. It may be the glory and the wonder of the tragedies of Shakespeare; but so long as it remains unread upon his bookshelves it is external to him. One day he takes it down and reads it. He is thrilled and fascinated and moved. The story sticks to him; the great lines remain in his memory; now when he wants to, he can take that wonder out from inside himself and remember it and think about it and feed his mind and his heart upon it. Once the book was outside him. Now it is inside him and he can feed upon it. It is that way with any great experience in life. It remains external until we take it within ourselves. It is so with Jesus. So long as he remains a figure in a book, he is external to us; but when he enters into our hearts we can feed upon the life and the strength and the dynamic vitality that he gives to us. Jesus said that we must drink his blood. He is saying: ‘You must stop thinking of me as a subject for theological debate; you must take me into you, and you must come into me; and then you will have real life.’ That is what Jesus meant when he spoke about us abiding in him and himself abiding in us.”
By taking in the body and blood of Jesus Christ, we are now connected to him. He abides in us, and we in Him (v. 56). Jesus again reiterates that He is the bread come down from heaven, and that unlike the bread given to the Israelites in the time of Moses, His bread will completely satisfy our hunger, for life eternal (v. 58). But that is not all – Jesus explains how he was sent by the Father, and he feeds off the Father. We are to have that same relationship with Jesus (v. 57). As Mike frequently reminds us, if salvation were the endgame of Christianity, then the instant you put your faith in Jesus, you would be brought home to heaven. We too were hungry, beggars searching for our daily bread. Once we find the “bread of heaven,” we must use that strength to help other beggars like ourselves find the bread of life. As Phillips Brooks comments, “To feed on Christ is to get His strength into us, to be our strength. You feed on the cornfield, and the strength of the cornfield comes into you, and is your strength. You feed on Christ, and then go and live your life; and it is Christ in you that lives your life, that helps the poor, that tells the truth, that fights the battles, and that wins the crown.” Eat your fill! Live with Christ in you! Help others! Fight the battles, in truth!
Diggin Deeper (er):
John 17:21-23; John 14:23
Phil Meade is a father of three, and grandfather of five. He has a Masters in Theological Studies from Liberty University, and lives in Acworth. He has led various small groups throughout his more than 20 years attending NorthStar Church. He recently retired after 33 years as a pilot for Delta Airlines.