Unless It Has Been Granted…
Communion, the eucharist, is one of greatest Sundays we experience. We are filled with the Spirit of Christ and we can draw near to Him in ways that are more beautiful, and meaningful, as other times that we gather together. We take the bread/wafer and the wine/juice and celebrate our relationship with our King, our Lord, our Savior, the reason we have breath in our lungs. He becomes one with us and we with Him. We are, Spiritually, eating His body and drinking His blood.
There have been extreme situations in recorded history when people felt the need to actually eat the flesh of another person. Not only is this disgusting to write down, it is hard to hear. It is difficult for us to even think about or read about cannibalism.
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 food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. ~ John 6:54-55 NKJB
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Jesus Christ in John 6, and other books and chapters as well, speaks about “eating His flesh and drinking His blood“. Not only does Jesus not mean this literally He actually explains it in John 6.
When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. ~ John 6:61-64 NKJB
When we partake of Communion and eat the bread (cracker/wafer) and drink the wine (juice) we are Spiritually eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus Christ. We are not practicing some transubstantiation moment (the miraculous change by which according to Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox dogma the eucharistic elements at their consecration become the body and blood of Christ while keeping only the appearances of bread and wine). Jesus Christ was not telling the followers, especially the “groupies”, that were hanging around all the time waiting for the next “show” to begin, they were going to eat His flesh and drink His blood.
No. Jesus Christ was saying then, as today, that either we are all-in or we are not. Either we are fully transformed and touched by the Holy Spirit or we are not. If a person has been following Jesus Christ for some time, like a few years, studying His teachings, striving to live in His ways and sharing what has been learned that life should be changed in ways that allows others see and hear a different person. Everyone that comes in contact with someone like that should know right away this person is different than most.
And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. ~ John 6:65-66 NKJB
Either we are or we are not. There is no middle ground; there is no other way; there is no other truth; there is no other life. We are not allowed to “believe what we like” as the “deconstructionist” think. It seems to be very black and white. Our part in this journey is seemingly devoid of gray – only yes or no. If we are “yes” then we should hold our tongue and keep our complaints to ourselves, lest we become nothing more than a “groupie” instead of follower and believer.
Either the Scripture is the divine Word of God teaching us how to live and how to be a reflection of God, or it’s nothing more than a historical account of events.
