I’m preaching on Sunday on John 6, about Jesus’ claim to be the “bread of life.” In the sermon, I’m going to discuss His unforgettable words in the latter part of the chapter, in verse 54: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Jesus spoke in very graphic terms of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. To say that was shocking would be an understatement. Human flesh was not exactly considered kosher! Consuming blood, any blood, was absolutely forbidden according to Mosaic Law. Leviticus 17:11 says “Life…is in the blood…It is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”
Some of you may recognize the name Anne Rice, one of the most popular novelists in recent times. She is perhaps most famous for a series of books on vampires and other supernatural characters. Her books have sold more than 75 million copies. She wrote her first novel in 1976, called Interview with the Vampire, and it has sold more than 8 million copies all by itself.
Her fans were stunned when, in 1998, she announced that she had abandoned atheism and was now returning to her Catholic roots. Not only that, but she also refused to write anymore about the “living dead.” "I would never go back, not even if they say, 'You will be financially ruined; you've got to write another vampire book.' I would say no. I have no choice. I would be a fool for all eternity to turn my back on God like that."
What Rice finally came to realize was that the novels she had been writing had essentially been metaphors for her own life. And it had certainly not been an easy one, either. When she was just 14, her mother died from alcoholism. Anne and her husband had a daughter together, but she died of leukemia when she was only 5. That may explain why she turned her back on God, and this was reflected in her writing. Undead characters, obsessed with the darkness, wandering about in a world with no hope and no God, literally sucking the life out of their innocent victims.
One of the most powerful motivators for her turnaround, according to her interview, was a desperate longing for communion. She most needed the body and blood of Jesus. "The Lord came looking for me," she remembers. "Everywhere I turned, I found images of the Lord and His love." I’ve never read any of her other novels, by the way, but I’ve started to read her fictionalized account of the life of Christ. Since her change of heart, she has actually become quite a scholar of the New Testament.
If you read John carefully, you may find indications that he assumed his readers were already familiar with Matthew, Mark, and Luke. If that’s the case, it may make sense why there’s one scene that we never find in his version. There’s no Last Supper! But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t told us something very important about what that supper meant. Our greatest need is to feast, spiritually, on the flesh and blood of Christ, as pictured here in this passage. Life truly is in the blood.
Jesus spoke in very graphic terms of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. To say that was shocking would be an understatement. Human flesh was not exactly considered kosher! Consuming blood, any blood, was absolutely forbidden according to Mosaic Law. Leviticus 17:11 says “Life…is in the blood…It is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”
Some of you may recognize the name Anne Rice, one of the most popular novelists in recent times. She is perhaps most famous for a series of books on vampires and other supernatural characters. Her books have sold more than 75 million copies. She wrote her first novel in 1976, called Interview with the Vampire, and it has sold more than 8 million copies all by itself.
Her fans were stunned when, in 1998, she announced that she had abandoned atheism and was now returning to her Catholic roots. Not only that, but she also refused to write anymore about the “living dead.” "I would never go back, not even if they say, 'You will be financially ruined; you've got to write another vampire book.' I would say no. I have no choice. I would be a fool for all eternity to turn my back on God like that."
What Rice finally came to realize was that the novels she had been writing had essentially been metaphors for her own life. And it had certainly not been an easy one, either. When she was just 14, her mother died from alcoholism. Anne and her husband had a daughter together, but she died of leukemia when she was only 5. That may explain why she turned her back on God, and this was reflected in her writing. Undead characters, obsessed with the darkness, wandering about in a world with no hope and no God, literally sucking the life out of their innocent victims.
One of the most powerful motivators for her turnaround, according to her interview, was a desperate longing for communion. She most needed the body and blood of Jesus. "The Lord came looking for me," she remembers. "Everywhere I turned, I found images of the Lord and His love." I’ve never read any of her other novels, by the way, but I’ve started to read her fictionalized account of the life of Christ. Since her change of heart, she has actually become quite a scholar of the New Testament.
If you read John carefully, you may find indications that he assumed his readers were already familiar with Matthew, Mark, and Luke. If that’s the case, it may make sense why there’s one scene that we never find in his version. There’s no Last Supper! But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t told us something very important about what that supper meant. Our greatest need is to feast, spiritually, on the flesh and blood of Christ, as pictured here in this passage. Life truly is in the blood.
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