Good evening. Great is His faithfulness
JOHN 6:53-66
53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is [a]food indeed, and My blood is [b]drink indeed. 56 He who eats 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 he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
Many Disciples Turn Away
60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a [c]hard saying; who can understand it?”
61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples [d]complained about this, He said to them, “Does this[e]offend you? 62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. 65 And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
66 From that time many of His disciples went [f]back and walked with Him no more.
Jesus Christ was crucified in the flesh and His blood was shed on the Cross, and on third day according to the scriptures He was raised in a glorified state. We receive the grace of Christ's sacrificial offering by coming to Him in faith - (v. 35) and by receiving Holy Communion in faith. We take Communion, we truly eat His flesh and drink His blood, and this grants us the faithful eternal life - (v. 54), with Christ abdiding in us and us in Him - (v. 56).
John 6:35: 35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
We see in v. 60, even some of His disciples took His teaching on His Body and Blood as a hard saying, and many walked with Him no more - (v.66). To this day, there are still those who reject Christ's own words concerning the sacramental eating of His Body and drinking of His Blood, and do not walk in His teaching. It's by the difficulty of grasping the depth of this Mystery, according to the Orthodox study Bible commentary, that many attempt to either define its nature rationally or to explain away Christ's Words altogether, giving them a purely metaphorical meaning. Either extreme is dubious, to reject this sacramental teaching is to reject the witness of the Scriptures and the unanimous teaching of the Church throughout history.
"There is no room left for any doubt about the reality of His flesh and blood, because we have both the witness of His Words and our own faith. Thus when we eat and drink these elements, we are in Christ and Christ is in us" (HilryP). "Hilary of Poitiers"
See my video for the rest of the discussion and devotional
Numbers 6:24-26
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
26 The Lord [a]lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.” ’
In Christ love Jared W Campbell
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