Cannibalism. I gotta
tell you, I’m just not a fan. I realize someone might accuse me of just being
ethnocentric, that I’m only reflecting my own cultural stereotypes; but, sorry,
cannibalism is just… well… gross.
Soon after I became a
follower of our Lord, I began to read a lot of missionary biographies. More
than a few of them dealt with devoted believers reaching out to unreached
people groups who on some level practiced cannibalism. The stories were both
engaging and disturbing. And then in my historical studies, I found out that
one of the main reasons the Roman Empire persecuted the early Church was over
accusations of cannibalism. Because the Church would occasionally meet in
private and “eat the body and drink the blood” of Jesus, many on the outside
assumed that the Church, like other cults at the time, would actually eat human
flesh.
Of course, the early
Church followed the Old Testament and would have been appalled at the
suggestion that they would treat any human that way and especially so given the
strong prohibition in Scripture against eating blood in any form. In Genesis 9,
Noah is commanded: “you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is its blood”,
a command that is reiterated in the Mosaic law (Leviticus 17:10-16), and
explained: “for the life of every creature is in its blood” (vs. Leviticus 17:14).
This is a slightly
different view of “blood” than is evident in our culture. Given our TV shows
and our daily access to news, I think it is easy for us to associate blood with
death. If we see a lot of blood on a TV show, we assume there is a dead body
somewhere. The Israelites, however, more often associated blood with the life
(not the death) of the creature. They obviously knew that without blood an
animal died, but that was because the life of the animal was “in the blood”.
Blood was life.
And, this helps
explain cannibalism—and God's opposition to eating blood. Most societies that
practice cannibalism do not do so for nourishment. The point is not to ingest
food to sustain life. Most cannibals perceive themselves as taking into
themselves the life, the strength, the essence of their enemy. Thus, one might
eat part of a conquered enemy so as to absorb their power and become more
powerful. This same mentality dominated the cultures surrounding ancient
Israel. A person would drink the blood of a particularly powerful animal, say,
an ox or bull, and thus gain the strength and power of the bull. One would
become like what they ate and drank.
You can see God's
opposition to this practice. To drink the blood, to take in the life of an
animal is to become more like the animal. To eat the body and blood of another
human was to aspire to become like that human. But, that is not what we were
made for! Humans are made in the image of God, not to become like the animals
or other humans, but to become more like God Himself—more like Him in His
holiness, His righteousness, His character and desires. Small wonder then that
Jesus would say, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his
blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53). Not cannibalism, but
transformation. May you continue to believe, to feed on the very life of Christ
each and every day.
As you prepare for
worship this week, read John 6:25-59.
1. In verse 26, Jesus
says the people did not see the signs; but earlier in verse 2, it is because of
the signs that the people come to Jesus. How might we understand Jesus'
critique in verse 26?
2. What is “food that
endures to eternal life” in verse 27 mean?
3. Notice the
interchange with Jesus and the people in verses 28 & 29. They want to know
what they are to DO. Jesus points them to FAITH. How does this interchange
continue to happen today?
4. The Jews focused
on Moses and the manna. Jesus reorients them to God and the manna. Why do the
Jews look to Moses here? Obviously they knew that the manna came, not from
Moses, but from God. So, why mention Moses here?
5. Meditate on the
metaphor Jesus uses: He is the “Bread of Life”. What all might this entail?
6. Notice the
connection between Jesus as the bread of life and eternal life or the
everlasting nature of the satisfaction we have in Him.
7. In verse 53, Jesus gets very graphic. He is
the bread, and we are to actually eat him. Yikes! Assuming no one actually
thought Jesus was suggesting cannibalism, what were they to think?
