“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63)
With this one verse, Jesus Christ completely denied the “transubstantial” sense of His Words. The flesh profits nothing. He as much tells us that His Words were meant to be taken figuratively - and that sets the parameters for all further intepretation on this subject appearing later in the epistles.
Indeed, we should observe that the disciples who turned back and left Him were the ones who thought He was literally telling them to eat His flesh and drink His blood. The ones who stayed faithful were the ones who understood that He was speaking spiritually and figuratively.
And this isn’t even getting into the theme that appears across Scripture of “eating the Word of God” that is always elsewhere used in a symbolic or figurative sense.
That's not Christ. That's Clinton.
Many of his disciples deserted Christ because they could not accept His teaching about His Body and Blood. And when they began to leave, Christ didn't amend or clarify His words - instead He confirmed that He did indeed mean them to eat His Body and drink His Blood.
The faithful disciples (however) stayed with Christ because they recognized that He was the Son of the living God. They were the first to eat His Body and drink His Blood at the Last Supper.
“...teaching Christ, and Him crucified “