Jesus’ command to “eat my flesh” and “drink my blood” in John 6 has been the subject of much debate since the time of the Protestant Reformation. And Catholic apologists have done their fair share of defending the realistic understanding of these words (we must eat Jesus’ real flesh and blood) as opposed to a metaphorical reading (we need only come to Jesus and believe in him). Thus, you might think, “What more can be said about it?”
Well, I’d like to answer that question here.
What I say below is nothing entirely new. However, there is enough twist that I think it’s worth sharing.
We all know that Jesus’ disciples struggled to accept his command to eat his flesh and drink his blood: “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (John 6:60). Some of them even left him for it: “After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer walked with him” (v. 66).
We also know that Jesus recognized their difficulty: “Do you take offense at this?” (v.61).
Now, the question is, “Did Jesus attempt to ease the difficulty by clarifying their realistic understanding?”
As others have argued, and as I argue in my book Meeting the Protestant Response: How to Answer Common Comebacks to Catholic Arguments, the answer is no. Rather, Jesus underscored the difficulty by appealing to his ascension: “What if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before?” (v. 62).
Such a response suggests that Jesus was not clarifying his disciples’ realistic understanding. Rather, he was affirming it. Why would Jesus appeal to his ascension—something even more difficult to believe, given its observably miraculous nature—if he were trying to ease the difficulty by clarifying the literal thoughts of his disciples concerning his teaching to eat his flesh and drink his blood?
Most who swim in the waters of apologetics are familiar with the above argument. There are two other lines of reasoning, however, that aren’t so familiar.
For the first one, consider that in verses 33-35 of John 6, the metaphor of “eating” and “drinking” are used in conjunction with Jesus’ command to “come to” him and “believe” in him:
“For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.”
The “eating” and “drinking” metaphors are implied in Jesus’ promise that we will never hunger when we come to him and never thirst when we believe in him. So, at least here, “eating” and “drinking” are metaphors for following Jesus and believing in him.
Now, if Jesus wanted to ease the difficulty that the disciples were having with his command to “eat his flesh” and “drink his blood” and clarify their realistic understanding, then he could have easily done so by retreating to the “come to me” and “believe in me” language. You can imagine him saying something like, “Hey guys, why are you having such a hard time with this? I just gave you the interpretive key for this language. All I’m asking you to do is come to me and believe in me.” And the disciples would have responded, “That’s all you mean? Whew! I thought you meant for us to actually eat your flesh and drink your blood. In that case, no problem here! We’re already following you and believing in you.”
Not only could Jesus have done this, but he would have done it. Jesus wouldn’t leave his disciples in the darkness of their misunderstanding when he had an easy fix available. That’s just not Jesus’ M.O. Sure, at times, he left his critics in such darkness (John 2:1-15). But he never did that for his disciples.
When Jesus spoke in parables to the multitudes, “privately to his own disciples he explained everything” (Mark 4:33-34; see also Matt. 13:10-11). When Jesus’ disciples thought he was speaking of real food—“I have food to eat of which you do not know” (John 4:32), Jesus clarified their misunderstanding: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work” (v. 34). When Jesus’s disciples thought Jesus was speaking of the bread of the Pharisees and Sadducees—“Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matt. 16:6)—Jesus, again, clarified their misunderstanding: “How is it that you fail to perceive that I did not speak about bread?” (v. 11). Matthew tells us that the disciples then understood Jesus to be speaking of the “teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (v.12).
So, to repeat: If Jesus wanted to ease the difficulty that the disciples were having with his command to “eat his flesh” and “drink his blood” and clarify their realistic understanding, then he could have, and would have, done so by retreating to the “come to me” and “believe in me” language.
But Jesus didn’t retreat to such language.
Therefore, Jesus didn’t want to ease the difficulty and clarify their realistic understanding.
Now, given this, we have only three possibilities that would follow:
- a) Jesus wasn’t concerned with the disciples’ difficulty,
- b) Jesus intended to leave the disciples in their false realistic understanding, or
- c) Jesus intended the disciples’ realistic understanding.
It can’t be that Jesus wasn’t concerned with their difficulty. He was: “Do you take offense at this?” (v. 61).
Nor can it be that Jesus intended to leave his disciples in their false realistic understanding. The examples above where Jesus clarifies his disciples’ misunderstandings suffice as evidence.
Our only option left is that Jesus intended the disciples’ realistic understanding. Thus, there was no misunderstanding on the part of the disciples. They got it! And they left Jesus for it.
There’s yet another line of reasoning that suggests Jesus’ affirmation of the disciples’ realistic understanding. After we’re told that the disciples “drew back and no longer walked with [Jesus]” (v. 66), Jesus asks the apostles, “Will you also go away?” (v. 67).
Here’s the question for us: Why would Jesus think the apostles might leave him for his teaching to believe in him when they already believed in him?
This is what Jesus would have to have thought if he intended his words to be taken as an idiom for coming to him and believing in him. But that doesn’t make sense.
The question as to whether the apostles would leave Jesus, along with the other disciples, makes no sense if all Jesus meant was to come to him and believe in him. No difficulty would have existed for the apostles, especially a difficulty of such a degree that they might leave him for it
Therefore, Jesus’ question to the apostles is further evidence that he intended a realistic understanding of his words as opposed to a metaphorical or figurative one.
There you have it: a few more lines of defense to add to the stock defenses for the realistic understanding of Jesus’ words “eat my flesh” and “drink my blood.” The mystery of these words never ceases to inspire awe within us and draws us ever deeper into reflection on God’s Word.