It is the spirit that gives life ...
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. -John 6:60-63 NRSV
I wonder what the disciples were saying to each other when Jesus spoke to them of eating his flesh and drinking his blood. To the carnal mind his words must have seemed cannibalistic in nature. Yet the words of Christ were never ever meant to be taken carnally. Eating and drinking in Christ has always been about taking his Spirit deep within.
Don't you love how Jesus connects life with spirit? When he speaks of his words being spirit and life he is teaching us what life is all about. What being human was meant to be from the very beginning. Being human has never been about human flesh but about the Spirit of God living in human flesh. To genuinely live is to live from a place deep within.
We long to see you ascending Lord. Open our eyes to what your Spirit is doing all around us.
... this devotion is part of an ongoing series on the Gospel of John.
Amen.
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