Exactly a point that gets lost in these debates. I don't know why others don't see it.
Some claim in John 6:63 Jesus claimed exactly that: that He was only speaking in metaphor and not in a literal sense. But these same people seem to forget that it was AFTER Jesus (supposedly) "explained Himself" in John 6:63, that virtually all His followers left him!
Why? Was it so difficult to accept He was teaching in a metaphor? Were the people back then somehow different than us? Were they stupid and couldn't grasp the concept of a metaphor?
WHY would a group of people who just before wanted to crown Him king suddenly leave Him because He started speaking in metaphors? HE TAUGHT BEFORE IN PARABLES AND NO ONE LEFT HIM THEN!
It makes ZERO sense, to try to claim a metaphor would be so offensive. Such a claim only makes sense to those who want or NEED to believe that "explaination". It makes ZERO sense otherwise.
What??? Tons of people left him over the parables...That's why he used the parables, to weed out the unbelievers, Just as he did in John...
You can't just make stuff up to justify your religion...