Dear Christian friends,

An Eskimo fisherman came to town every Saturday afternoon with two dogs, one white and the other black. He had taught them to fight on command. People would gather in the town square for the fight each week and the fisherman would take their bets as to which dog would win. One Saturday the black dog would win; another Saturday the white dog would win. But the fisherman always knew which one would win on any given Saturday, so he won most of the bets.

How did he know which dog was going to win each week? The time came when he revealed his secret to his friends. "I starve one and feed the other. The one I feed always wins because he is stronger."

There are two natures in us Christians. The old and the new. The one that is fed is stronger and wins. (Sermon Illustration p. 23-24) In our text, which is the Gospel Lesson for this Sunday, Jesus talks about feeding the new man. He talks about

I. What is meant by spiritual eating and drinking?

A. Spiritual eating and drinking means believing in Jesus. Jesus says in our text, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." (v. 51)

1. When Jesus here speaks of eating He does not mean what we do when we consume a slice of bread or a cut of meat. Jesus is here using a metaphor, a figure of speech. By eating He means believing.

We are to listen, understand, and believe what He has been preaching here, namely that He is the eternal Son of God who "was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary," so that He could give that very same flesh and blood "for the life of the world." This is spiritual eating.

2. Here Jesus is not talking about the Lord's Supper as many people mistakenly think when they read or hear this text. He had not yet instituted the Lord's Supper at this time. In the Lord's Supper we have sacramental eating and drinking because there both physical and spiritual eating and drinking occur. Here there is no physical eating and drinking, but preaching, teaching, listening, understanding and believing.

B. Many people do not catch on to this, or if they do, they refuse to believe what Jesus is teaching by this metaphor.

1. The Jews here in our text acted like they did not catch on to Jesus' metaphor, at least many of them did. They really should have caught on, because Jesus had already clearly explained to them that He meant eating to stand for believing. (v. 35) But they beg the question and attempt to belittle Him and mock Him by asking each other "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

So Jesus presses the metaphor and warns them because of their unbelief; saying, "I tell you the truth unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. (v. 53) They He encourages those who do believe in Him, saying, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. "For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." (vv. 54-55)

2. Why did Jesus continue to press the metaphor and in a way rub their noses into it? No doubt, because of their crass unbelief in spite of His loving and beautiful preaching with this metaphor.

C. It is only by God's grace that we are able to eat spiritually.

Just thank God that the Father has graciously drawn you and taught you, giving you eyes to see and ears to hear so that you may understand and believe the life-giving teachings of the Lord, whether they be in the form of straight talk, metaphors or parables. We don't know why He has chosen us and not them. We certainly by nature are not better than they were. We were just as blind and just as deaf and obstinate. We need to say and really mean it:

"Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see!"
(L.w. 509 v. 1)

Transition: We can eat and drink spiritually only because of God's grace. Next Jesus tells about a unique benefit of this spiritual banqueting.

II, The unique benefit of spiritual eating and drinking is really amazing: We live in Christ and He lives in us!

In our text Jesus says, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him." (v. 56) These are tremendous words!

A. But sadly, they have been interpreted by some as meaning merely to meditate on Christ.

When these people think about Christ's sufferings and death, they suppose that Christ is in them and they in Christ. They do not really believe that Christ actually lives in them and they in Him. They think it is sufficient to give Christ a brief passing thought and then to show up at church regularly. Here Jesus does not say: "Your thoughts of me are in me and my thoughts in you." Rather He says, "you remain in Me, and I in you."

Here is and illustration which may help us understand the tremendous thing Jesus is saying. Suppose someone presents me with a fine roast beef dinner. I come and sit down at the table and admire it and smell it and compliment the cook on what a great meal she has prepared. I see it. I smell it. I think about it, but I don't eat it. I don't chew it and swallow it, nor do I digest it my stomach. Therefore, it can give no strength to my body and I can not really live.

It is the same with spiritual eating and drinking. If we just hear about Jesus and think about Him, if we just come to church casually and don't really eat Him and digest Him, He is not really in us nor we in Him, and so we have no life in us.

B. But when we by God's grace and the prompting of the Holy Spirit read, hear, mark, learn, and inwardly digest His Holy Word we abide in Him and He in us, and live.

1. We are really in Him body and soul, with our righteousness and sins, with our wisdom and folly; and He then is in us with His righteousness, wisdom and salvation. Of course, Jesus is the dominate One in this relationship. We live spiritually and victorious because of Him.

2. To help us appreciate this He compares our union with Him to His union with the Father in heaven. He says here in verse 57, "Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me."

3. Jesus was victorious in His mission here on earth because the Father was in Him and He was in the Father. So we triumph over all spiritual enemies because we are intimately united with Christ.

C. Adversity tests whether or not Christ lives in us and we in Him.

Martin Luther writes: "There are those who say that Christ remains in them, but when trials confront them and they are faced with loss of life, honor or material wealth, when it is a question of risking and sacrificing their life for Christ's sake or for their neighbors well being, then Christ is not found dwelling in them. Mere thoughts are not adequate, for these are nothing but your work, power and natural reason and a feeble creature. But if the terrors of a bad conscience are to be subdued, if the devil is to be frightened away and repelled, if death is to be overcome, then a divine force and not a mere thought is required. Something else must reside in you, so that your enemies will have to cope with a power which will prove too strong for them, a power which they fear, from which they flee, and which will permit you to carry the victory." (Luther's Works Vol. 23, p. 145) Of course that power is Jesus Christ our righteousness, who lives in us by faith, by spiritual eating.

Conclusion: When Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, is our firm possession there is no life to lose, for we have eternal life. May God be gracious to us and give us to eat always of this Bread from Heaven!

Amen