J
Josh316
Guest
Couldn’t have put it better myself (read my signature)JOHN 6 - all literal, never symbolic
There are five reasons that jesus was speaking literally and not symbolically about His real flesh and blood.
(Jesus’ reaction to objections is remakably consistent. Whenever an audience WRONGLY understands Him to be speking literally and raises objections, Jesus’ canstant practice is to EXPLAIN that he was only speaking figuratively(see John 3:3-5, Matthew 1924-26, JOhn 8:21-23, John 8:32-36John8:39-44 and John 16:18-22
- This discourse takes place just after the famous miracle of the fish and loaves. This miracle should really be called the
“Multi-location” of the fish and loaves. The Apostles distribute five loaves of bread to a huge crowd. The VERY SAME FIVE LOAVES
feed thousands of hungry people at the same time, filling twelve baskets with leftovers! This clearly prefigures the one body of Christ being really and truly present to millions of people , without being divided or diminished.- Jesus claims the 'superiority ’ of His flesh over the manna which God gave the people in the desert." I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die"(vs 48-50)jn 6 The miracle of the manna was enormous: Everyday several israelites received an omer(abouit two quarts) of manna per person. This amounts to several tons of manna raining down in the desert daily(except the sabbath) for FORTY YEARS! Jesus says He will perform an even greater miracle than the manna. But mere earthly, natural bread serving as a symbol of Christ would be inferior to the heavenly, supernatural manna. The bread Christ gives us mUST be MORE REAL and MORE MIRACULOUS than even the manna.
- Everyone who heard Jesus understood him to be speaking LITERALLY of his body and blood. " how can he give us his flesh to eat"?, object the unbelieving jews(vs 52) “this saying is too hard, who can accept it”? declare his unbelieving disciples(vs 60)
Many of these disciples had lived, eaten and walked with Jesus for nearly two years. They spoke the same language and dialect as Jesus. Day in and Day out, they heard him use different figures of speech. They heard him speak symbolically, using parables, allegories,and analogies(such as calling herod a fox). They also heard him speak literally, meaning exactly what he said. In Christs Eucharistic discourse, these disciples heard him “live”. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a live presentation is worth a thousand pictures. Yet these same disciples- many of whom quit following Christ-never even asked Jesus to explain himself. They understood perfectly that jesus meant precisely what he said!
( how can we, living 2000 years later , think we can know more about what Jesus said than those who experieneced Him firsthand and knew the ancient languages. How can wwe think we can know these ancient languages 2000 years removed from the time they were being fluently spoken and used by millions who were familiar with them)? It would be the height of arrogance to assume that all the eye and ear witnesses got it all wrong, while we, far removed from the time, place language and culture-got it right!)- Instead of explaining that His listeners were misunderstanding him, that he was only spekaing figuratively, Jesus- using the strongest language possible, emphatically REPEATS the literalness of this teaching, six times in six verses(vs 53-58)! " amen amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you"(vs 53).
“My flesh is REAL FOOD and my blood REAL DRINK”(vs 55)
This is NOT the language of symbolism!- Many of Jesus’ own disciples can’t accept the literalness of His teaching and leave him(vs66). Notice that Jesus DOESN"T call them back and explain that he is only speaking figuratively, as he did on previous occasions when they mistook Him for speaking literally. For example, in John 4:31-34, Jesus says" I have food to eat of which you do not know". His disciples take him literally, so Jesus explains " My food is to do the will of the One who sent me". In Matthew 16:5-12, Jesus says " beware of the leaven of the pharisees and sadducees". Once again, his disciples think Jesus is speaking literally. Again, Jesus corrects them and explains that he is not talkoing about real bread. " then they understood that he was not telling them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the pharisees and Sadducees".
On the other hand, when the audience RIGHTLY understands Him to be speaking literally and raises objections, Jesus’ Jesus" constant practice is to repeat what he said(se Matthew 9:2-6, John8:56-59, and john 6:42-51). When the Jews object to Jesus saying the bread He will give is His flesh , does Jeuss explain himself or repeat himself? Jesus emphatically repeats Himself six times in a row, confirming that he intends to be understood literally.)
peace, justin
“beginning apologetics” series
