Part 2 of Crackers and Juice, or the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ

Of all the many outrageous words of Jesus recorded in the four Gospels, no words match the sheer mind blowing capacity of John's quote (6:56); "...eat My flesh...drink My blood..."; imagine how those six words landed in the ears of many present who also knew all too well the words of Leviticus 17:14, "...you are not to eat the blood of any flesh...whoever eats it shall be cut off." 

The Leviticus passage is what many Bible thumpers of our day would call, "chapter and verse"  underscoring the sole authority of the Bible in a believer's life. Well... Jesus veritably trampled on that particular "chapter and verse" replete with reviewing His statement several times and then defending it to His core leadership team after the crowd present for His, "say what?!"  teaching ran for the exits! 

Of course we know, with the luxury of 2000 years of sorting this out, that Jesus isn't introducing cannibalism. But who among these original hearers was even remotely prepared for such audacity? NO ONE! And yet, when Jesus asked His closest disciples, "Are you headed for the parking lot too?", their answer was, "We've come too far to run now...besides, when you speak, we come alive...and even THIS sparked something in our spirits."

Jesus Christ fulfilled Leviticus' commands, became the "flesh and blood" that we now know is the Bread of Heaven. To break the Leviticus' command was to risk being "cut off"; but now, on this side of the Cross, we are now bonded to the very essence of The Body of Christ. Touching the leper in the Old meant becoming a leper...now under the NEW, touching...indeed EATING the Body of Christ means becoming The Body of Christ. 

So, it was vital for Jesus to crash into that train of thought with His audacious Words. It was significant for them and us to be introduced to a mystery meal on the New Testament value of the reverse efficacy of Old Testament thinking. The Old said, "BEWARE!" but now the New says, "BECOME!"

We are what we eat! Come to the Table...."This is The Body of Christ"... 

Join me again in a day or 2, for Part 3 of "Crackers and Juice, or the Body and Blood of Christ" ...