How do you figure that He meant this figuratively? Many of His followers took it literally and left Him, but He did not correct them; He didn’t call them back and say, Hey, that was just figurative. No, they were unable to accept the literal meaning of His words, and so He let them go.
And St Paul does not sound like he thinks of the Eucharist in a figurative sense; see 1 Cor 11:27: “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord;” and he reiterates this 2 verses later: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”
Um.....NO....He explained that they were not believers in the first place. “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.” John 6:65. Don't make stuff up when the answer is right there in scripture.
It appears that Rome has mindread those folks and then taught you the tale.
And never defines UNWORTHY
So why would they go away?? The discourse on the bread was over when they went away ... Jesus had moved on with further teaching ...
Jhn 6:60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard [this], said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
Jhn 6:61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
If they were offended at that, he was saying wait until you hear the rest
Jhn 6:62 [What] and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
Jhn 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.
Jhn 6:64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
Jhn 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
Jhn 6:66 and walked no more with him.
They did not like hearing that salvation had to be given them and much like the manna in the desert, it was totally a gift of the Father. They could not do anything on their own to earn it, they only had access to it by faith ( remember the Jews could only gather enough manna for the one days meals, and for 2 days on the day before the sabbath, they had to have faith in God to provide what was necessary for their life) . The idea that salvation was all of God and not found in law keeping was blasphemy to the law oriented Jews that felt their salvation was based on their will, their law keeping etc
To make an attempt to make this a teaching on the Lords supper misses the mark. Christ was still alive and in His flesh and he was, by your reckoning , telling them to do something they could not do because the Lords Supper had not been instituted yet,it is a spiritual eating and drinking that is here spoken of, not a sacramental.
This was clearly a metaphorical teaching to Jews looking for a Physical savior like Moses, and for physical bread to meet their physical hunger. Jesus always used symbols that the Jews understood to make spiritual points.
Wow.
Jesus did not preach cannibalism. It was forbidden to drink blood. Those unbelievers left him, because they were unbelievers, and took something literally, when it should have been taken figuratively. The Pharisees did not get it either, when he said destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. I don't take Him literally, when he says he is the door, the lily of the valley, or the bright and morning star.
John 6: 6326 Jesus answered them, "Most certainly I tell you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled. Don't work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him."
They said therefore to him, "What must we do, that we may work the works of God?"
Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."
They said therefore to him, "What then do you do for a sign, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you do? 31Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness. As it is written, 'He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.'"
Jesus therefore said to them, "Most certainly, I tell you, it wasn't Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world."
They said therefore to him, "Lord, always give us this bread."
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don't believe. All those who the Father gives me will come to me. Him who comes to me I will in no way throw out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. [Here is the key to the passage, and it is not a cannibalistic, blood-frinking gastronomic heresies such as the Catholic Chruch teaches in the Eucharist. The bread and wine are IN REMEMBRANCE at the Lord's table. What the faux Christianity Catholicism teaches violates the very nature of God! From the beginning God told mankind not to drink the blood of any animal. The Life is in the blood. We are to let the life, in the blood, go out upon the ground. ] This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day. This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." [This is not a cannibalistic heresy, it is the plan of Salvation, the means of Justification. Yet Catholicism drives it home into catholic minds to commit an act contrary to God's own nature! And to do this over and over again, as if somehow the catholic heresies can renew salvation, renew God's Grace, over and over and over! Enough already. You heretics are modern cannibals, not Christians! Get this through your dead minds, that Jesus even starts the passage exposing you cannibals: v26 "Most certainly I tell you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled."]
v47 Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life. ['By faith/belief are ye saved not of works lest any repetitive cannibalistic catholic should boast'; Jes us was not teaching them to be cannibals for that is contrary to God's nature. Jews knew it then, but apparently blind and dumb catholics are ignorant of Whom God IS.] I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die. [Anyone may eat of this bread BY BELIEVING IN HIM, not by cannibalizing His body and blood, over and over and over and over, in a rite designed to Nicolaitanize Christianity.]
How can you be so double minded, to miss the lesson so completely? If you are saying the literal meaning is to cannibalize, eat transubstantiated (transmogrified, like Calvin's imaginary monsters) bread and wine as flesh and blood of Jesus, and those disciples who left were leaving because the literal meaning is contrary to God's nature, then the ones who left were obeying what they had been taught regarding YHWH.
But if the meaning is to practice this rite of bread and wine in REMEMBRANCE of His sacrificing His body for us on the Cross, and His blood upon the Mercy seat, and the disciples could not abide this offering which meant He would die soon, well then you are on the proper track to Honor The Grace of God in Christ!
Because Scripture is clear in forbidding the eating of blood, and Jesus Himself said that the words He had been speaking were SPIRITUAL truths, that the flesh profited nothing but it was the SPIRIT who gave life.
So which is it? The Spirit who gives life or eating Jesus?