The carnal gets hungry and thirsty. Spiritual need is not carnally solved ... eating the flesh and blood of Jesus would not address the spiritual need. BELIEF in Jesus ends Spiritual hunger, cures the poison of sin ... let's look at JESUS teaching this lesson to one of the Sanhedrin members:
When Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again, Nicodemus chose to leap for a carnal explanation because he did not have a spiritual focus, and asked The Lord From Heaven, (John 3:4) "How can a man be born when he is old? ... “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?”Jesus turned Nicodemus's focus to the spiritual, but still Nicodemus was confused: (John 3:5) Jesus answered “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." 9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. Jesus used wind as a metaphor or did Jesus call the Holy Spirit just wind?
Put your Catholic Priest mind in the place of Nicodemus for a moment: John3:10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” Jesus replied, “and do you not understand these things? ... 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life..."
Jesus directed Nicodemus's educated mind to a scene int he Desert after Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt. The camp had settled in a place where thousands of snakes dwelt. These were poisonous vipers and they were biting people and the people were dying from the poison. Not until Jesus points to this scene is there any explanation for the lesson throughout the entire Bible! The lesson is so clear even a Catholic Priest can see it: it is the act of human will to turn to the Promise of God that activates The Grace of God. It is not eating snakes or drinking poison of the snakes, it is the willful act of turning and believing in The Promise of God to heal from the poison!
Sin is poison to the soul of man. Sin oozes from the spirit of man, unregenerate man, UNTIL the will of man believes the Promise of God and lifts the eyes to JESUS the author and finisher of our FAITH. It is not eating The Son of Man or drinking His blood. IT IS THE SPIRITUAL that is in focus, with Nicodemus and with us in these final days.
meant to include you in the ping ...
You still don’t get it and may never be willing to accept the meaning that Jesus intended.
I do understand Nicodemus interpretation, but that wasn’t was Jesus meant. I understand what Jesus meant but apparently you assume every one understands this passage in the same way as Nicodemus. That is faulty logic. I have not tried to address every false assumption or statement that you made.
Anyway, the Nicodemus story is not the same as Jesus said “Whoever eats* my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. Jesus did not correct the followers who did not believe and left. Jesus did not say He was speaking in metaphor. Just the opposite, he repeated it several times.
Perhaps you forget Our Lord’s prayer: “Give us our daily bread”.
I have not said that we should not have complete Faith in Jesus and to follow His great commandments; Love God with your all and Love your neighbor as yourself. You should not imply otherwise. You should listen carefully to all the words of Jesus. They are important. Don’t change them to fit your needs. You may be rejecting Jesus if you do. Don’t be self-righteous. Be humble and listen to what God tells you.
You divert to other things instead of answering questions or addressing the situation at hand. You have denied the words of Jesus.
Have you ever thought seriously that Jesus meant exactly what He said about “His Body and Blood” being necessary for eternal life? Why wouldn’t you want to receive HIS BODY AND BLOOD with His special graces?
If you were with Jesus and he told you to do something for your eternal life, would you actually do it or would you question Him as many Jews did? And then tell Jesus that it is against the law and is repugnant.
****54Whoever eats* my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.
I don’t anticipate that you will answer the questions, and I have given you enough to reflect on that you keep repeating the same things. I truly hope that you find God’s peace and His Truth.
For instance, He used the model of a sower broadcasting seed to show the analogy of a herald of the gospel preaching the Bible truths to various kinds of human hearts.
What we have here, and you summarized, is that the situation required Jesus to use figurative-literal language to communicate His terms of the process by which vile sinning humans could be saved and restored. But as He pointed out to His disciples in Matthew 13, the ability to understand the meaning of the symbolism had to be through the undeserved gift of spiritual perception That only He, in graciousness, could impart.
And even though a natural man might realize that such a gracious gift exists, that knowledge does not give him the ability to exercise it. If he chooses to think that he can acquire that ability through his own efforts, I believe God will withhold that unearned and unearnable favor until the loser finally gives up and cries out for mercy (which is God's kindness in withholding the wages of sin which one richly does deserve).
Your insightful discussion bears the fruit of energizing even greater appreciation of God's grace from His Own children.