“YOU HAVE NO LIFE IN YOU!”

John 6:51-59                           (ESV)

“[51] I AM the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is MY flesh.”

[52] The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this MAN give us HIS flesh to eat?” [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 YOU”. [54] Whoever feeds on MY flesh and drinks MY blood has ETERNAL LIFE, and I will raise him up on the last day. [55] For MY flesh is true food, and MY blood is true drink. [56] Whoever feeds on MY flesh and drinks MY blood abides in ME, and I in him. [57] As the living FATHER sent ME, and I live because of the FATHER, so whoever feeds on ME, he also will live because of ME. [58] This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” [59] JESUS said these things in the synagogue, as HE taught at Capernaum.”

One commentary about the focal passages today offered these words in part for the aforementioned verses:

“Jesus again engages in “obnoxious discourse.” When the crowd is bothered and confused by Jesus’ claim to give his flesh, he makes an even more offensive statement: they will need to eat his flesh and drink his blood (verse 53). The vocabulary of the text only heightens the scandal. In verses 49-51, Jesus had spoken about “eating” the bread from heaven, using a very common word (esthio). In verse 53, however, Jesus switches to a less common word, trogo, a rather onomatopoetic word that has a connotation closer to “munch” or “gnaw.” It is a graphic word of noisy eating, the sort of eating an animal does. The audibility of the eating, however, is not the important point; this is eating that is urgent, even desperate. It is eating as though life depends on it, because it does.”

“Chewing the Cud” is the words that comes to mind when I read this commentary on John 6:51-59.  The Greek word “trogo” literally means to “to gnaw, munch, crunch” while the Greek word “esthia” means “to eat”.  Humans generally “eat” (esthio) food, and we very seldom “chew the cud” (trogo) our meals.  JESUS was NOT speaking about our physical feedings however.  HE was encouraging people to Spiritually “chew the cud” continually, letting HIS WORD transform our lives to be more like Him!

After reading these definitions, my feeble brain recalls Joshua 1:8 which says “This Book of the Law shall NOT depart from your mouth, but you shall MEDITATE on it DAY AND NIGHT, SO THAT YOU MAY BE CAREFUL TO DO ACCORDING TO ALL THAT IS WRITTEN IN IT. For THEN you will MAKE YOUR WAY PROSPEROUS, and then YOU WILL HAVE GOOD SUCCESS.”

According to what I am reading today, we are instructed to TAKE IN (ingest) the WORD OF GOD continually, to ingest (take in) it as we live, and MEDITATE (chew the cud) throughout the day to allow IT to TRANSFORM to become instruments that can be USED by GOD ALMIGHTY for HIS GLORY!   WHY DO WE INGEST THE WORD OF GOD, THEN “SPIT IT OUT” BEFORE WE CAN “CHEW THE CUD” AND LET IT CHANGE US FOR HIS GLORY???

Is there any wonder that “this world” has trouble SEEING TRUTH when as Believers “YOU HAVE NO LIFE IN YOU”?  TRULY, are you BORN AGAIN, or do you still give our OLD SELVES artificial respirations to fit in with our friends and neighbors are doing?  If you have been BORN AGAIN, you must have DIED at some point?  We must have LIFE in us to be a CHILD of the KING!  HE died on Calvary, and unless humanity has been BORN AGAIN,  “YOU HAVE NO LIFE IN YOU” and we are without HOPE!!!