Thought for Today: “Consuming Jesus”

Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:53-54 NKJV)

This was truly shocking to those who heard it without understanding. You see to drink blood or eat meat with blood still oozing from it was against the Law, and it was abhorrent to their way of thinking.

But what Jesus meant to do by saying this was to shock His listeners and cause the curious and the hanger-on’s to seriously question their motives in following Him. It says that after this statement many stopped following.

What Jesus was declaring was His indispensability. He presented Himself as that indispensable necessity for life, not some luxury or added blessing. In a sense, what Jesus was saying was that the only way to have eternal life was through consuming all that He is and all that He represents.

Theologian James Montgomery Boice said, “Following Jesus must be the most important thing in our lives, even more than our lives. Nothing must be done that subtracts from that commitment.”

Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)