51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, 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 feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on 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 whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
I think sometimes we have domesticated Jesus for ourselves. We have made him into the sort of fellow we might welcome into the end of our pew, smile at him, and ask how his week went while we browse the bulletin before church. Is that really Jesus? This is the third week of this conversation Jesus is having with the people in Capernaum. Jesus has been asserting that he is the bread of life, but they seem a little thick about this.
Jesus ramps up the language for us here, but our translations keep him appropriate for our sensibilities. In vs. 54 and 57 this translation says “Whoever feeds on me…” The Greek word is more graphic than that. This is the word for chew, gnaw, or nibble. In one place a Greek author says you can hear animals doing this when they eat. If you have ever stood by as dog munched on his chow you know what he meant. In John’s day they wanted an inoffensive Jesus who saved them spiritually but who would never have had any traffic with the physical side of life. That was just too gross, they thought, beneath God. But Jesus will not let them have that. He speaks of chewing. The word he uses for flesh here is the same word they would have used for what you buy at Safeway in those Styrofoam trays covered in clear plastic wrap: meat.
The people of the time were offended by Jesus’ words. If we blandly sit in church or read our bibles and are never offended, we might need to read a little harder, listen a little deeper, or back up and try again. Jesus is a shocking person who says outlandish things, truly outlandish because they come from heaven. What strange things has he said to you this week? Are you listening?