Dwelling in a Hot Dog?  On John 6:53-57

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, 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 him up at the last day.  For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.  Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.”

This passage has been considered a difficult passage, so much so that a lot of pastors and teachers avoid it.  It so confused many of Jesus’ followers that they stopped following him.  There is the claim by many that Jesus was actually speaking of canibalism of his body, but there is a simple question that clarifies that he is not. 

When you eat a hot dog, do you expect to remain in the hot dog? 

I’ll give you a minute to think about that.

 You expect it to remain in you long enough for your body to process it, but you don’t expect to remain in the hot dog.  That concept never occurs to us, and it didn’t to the people Jesus addressed in the event recorded for us.  So now we know to see this as Jesus teaching us to feed on him spiritually, and that the result will be that we get to dwell in him, and have him dwell in us.

Back up a bit, to verses 47-48  I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  From here on through the rest of the chapter Jesus is speaking of believing in him, spiritually consuming him through faith, which results in us dwelling in him and his dwelling in us eternally.

This teaching is intended to bring into sharp focus the fact that there is no true life apart from him, and that life brings a true union with him, a spiritual union as real as if we physically ate him.

So he continues v 58  This is the bread that came down from heaven.  Our forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.  This teaching didn’t sit well with his disciples, who began grumbling about it.  V 61-63  …Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?  What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!  The Spirit counts for nothing.  The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.  The eating is spiritual; not transubstantiation, not consubstantiation, but a spiritual eating which is represented in the practice we call communion.