John 6:53 — 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 yourselves.
If you have ever been ill and unable to eat, or if you have fasted for even a relatively short period of time, you will be familiar with the sense of weakness that comes over you, and the inability to think clearly for any length of time. The fact is that solid food is critical for the life and well-being of our bodies. Without food, people have survived as long as 73 days. If we do without water too, 10-14 days is a fairly typical life expectancy. Our bodies are designed to require regular intake of both foods and liquids or they will die.
It is the same in the spiritual realm. As Jesus says in our text, if our souls have never been fed with the nourishment they need, they have no life in them. This is how we are all born into this world - spiritually dead. Once they are made alive in Christ by trusting Him alone for salvation, our souls need to be fed and nourished regularly or our growth will be stunted. We may begin as babes in Christ but never grow to full maturity unless we feed - we will never satisfy the spiritual hunger that we ought to have if our souls are healthy. Many writers in the New Testament alude to this:
"like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation," (1 Peter 2:2)
"I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able," (1 Corinthians 3:2)
"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil." (Hebrews 5:12–14)
What exactly is this food that we can consume in order to nourish our souls and grow? The writers above all relate it to the Word of God. The Living Word, Jesus Christ, the One Who is revealed to us in the written Word, points to Himself as the Bread of Life:
"'For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.' 34 Then they said to Him, 'Lord, always give us this bread.' 35 Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.'" (John 6:33–35)
So Jesus is the source of our spiritual life and also the One Who sustains that life in us, feeding us spiritually as we make use of the means of grace, and especially the Word of God.
Our text comes from later in the account in John 6, where Jesus is driving home that it is essential for His people to feed spiritually on Him if they are to know spiritual life.
Now we come to the Lord's Supper. The congregation gathers around the Table and eats and drinks symbols of the body and blood of Jesus. Here is a proclamation that Jesus is the source and the sustenance of our spiritual lives. This should serve as a poignant reminder to us; just as our bodies will grow weak and frail if we do not feed them, our souls will do the same unless they are nourished by Christ out of His Word. Christ died so that we might live, but Christ remains essential to our spiritual life and well-being throughout the eternal life we have in Him.
How helpful to have this regular reminder of our utter dependence upon Christ for spiritual growth and strength! We might otherwise decide we can go it alone, but we would soon come to grief. Next time we take the Supper, let's be reminded that Christ is our life, without Whom we can do nothing. Let's use that reminder to re-dedicate ourselves to using the Word and the other means of grace so that our souls may be well-fed and strong.
In closing, let's also see another argument here for a frequent celebration of the Supper. The Table proclaims Christ as life and food for our souls. If we only take the meal once, twice, or even twelve times a year, does the lack of this proclamation suggest to us that our souls can manage without continual and frequent feeding on Him by faith?
