The increasing difficulties of Jewish unbelief.
The further teaching in the synagogue of Capernaum only developed the more decidedly the unbelieving temper of the Galilaeans.
I. THE STRIFE AMONG THE JEWS. "The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can he give us his flesh to eat?"
1. Some of them evidently were in his favour, and understood his words in their true sense; but the majority were as evidently opposed to him.
2. Those who are carnally minded are apt to put a wrong sense upon the words of life, to their own undoing.
3. Yet our Lord does not alter his words to meet the moral difficulties present to their minds.
II. CONSIDER HOW OUR LORD DEALS WITH THEM QUESTION. "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." Here he gives his explanation, first in a negative, then in a positive form, to the effect that the atoning obedience of Christ is the cause of life to men (Romans 5:18). He had first connected the life with his Person; he now connects it with his work.
1. Our Lord does not, as some imagine, refer here to the Lord's Supper,
2. He does not refer these words to his doctrine, or his system of ethics, or his example. Such an interpretation is exceedingly shallow.
3. He does not refer to the Incarnation, as the sole channel for the communication of life, according to those who hold the mystical theory of the atonement, as if his death were the mere climax of his dedication to God, and not a true sacrifice for sin.
4. He refers, in these expressive words, to his atoning death on Calvary, of which the Paschal lamb was but the shadow. With their awe of blood, the Jews would think it strange to hear Jesus assert the necessity of drinking his blood; but the strangeness disappears when he virtually says to them, "I am the Substance or Reality of that type."
(a) It presupposes men as without life, as alienated from the life of God (Ephesians 4:18), because they have not the love of God in them (John 5:42).
(b) It is something freely provided and bestowed by God.
(c) It is eternal in its nature, incapable of break or interruption, finding its completeness in the final resurrection of the body.
5. The crucified flesh of Christ is the essential food of the immortal soul. "For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." The reason is that the food of the old sacrifices was only the type of which Christ crucified was the transcendent reality.
6. Explanation of the life-giving virtue of Christ's flesh and blood. "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him." This implies a union of the closest kind.
7. The true ground of the common life of Christ and believers. "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me shall live by me."
(a) for he has his life by the Father, and
(b) has been sent by the Father, who is the Fountain of life.
8. Jesus now reaches the climax of his revelation to the Jews, for he tells them plainly that death or life hangs upon their acceptance or rejection of himself. "He that eateth of this bread shall live forever."
9. The scene of this long discourse. "Jesus said these things, teaching in the synagogue of Capernaum." Modern exploration has identified Tell-Hum as the site of Capernaum, and brings to light the ruins of an ancient synagogue, in which has been found a block of stone with the pot of manna engraved upon its face. The discovery suggests that the Jews as well as Christ may have seen this very stone.