Was Jesus lying when He said this?
John 3:14-18 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
John 6:40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
Jesus never commanded anyone to break the Law. He was speaking about spiritual consuming.
Jesus knew the Law, since He was author of it. He knew the prohibitions found in Leviticus on drinking blood, for the life of the creature is in the blood. He knew the curse brought by the shedding of Abel's blood.
Jesus knew when He told them in absolute Truth (being The Truth, The Way and The Light) the work God requires is to believe on The One Whom God has sent for their spiritual deliverance from sin.
Yet Jesus told them something completely and utterly contrary to what He had issued for their law way back in Leviticus. He even emphasized it, to make it the more shocking to their dullness ... but it did not lead them to open their minds to Him, to His Presence, to the SPIRITUAL Feast He was going to bring to them. They applied it, the sarcasm, wrongly and walked away, not allowing The sword of Truth to open the division of the soul which leads to the broken and contrite spirit.
Catholiciism applies it, the sarcasm, and performs a pagan ritual to try and manipulate God.
Mormons twist it to believe they too can become gods by their faithfulness to institutionalized ordinances and their accomplishing of the Laws which expose a sinful nature.
THAT is divine sarcasm. Jesus used it on a milder level with Nicodemus, as recorded in John 3, when He said to Nic: "Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and don't understand these things?"
The most obvious clue to the statement being sarcasm (aimed at spiritual consumption not physically eating His body and drinking His blood, and the mischaracterization the Jews applied), is their questioning among themselves. Had they asked for clarification, from Him Whom they were trying to trap into taking the role of conquering king or get out of their way, what do we suppose Jesus would have taught them right then and there, something that would set aside their pride and open them humbly to accept His Divine work for them? ...
Jesus tells us with His clarification in the Upper Room, when He told His disciples to do the ritual/ the feast of Passover/ God's Time appointment of bread and wine IN REMEMBRANCE of His work about to be done the very next day, and given the absolute stamp of God's Promise approved, with the resurrection!
Why did the Jews turn away, rather than ask for clarification? Why do catholics insist on eating the supposed body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus crucified continually in the Mass? Why do Mormons refuse to allow God to be God in them, and instead seek to become gods? ... Pride. It is at the heart of all denial of God's sovereignty and Grace in Christ.
The Jews wanted to earn eternal life by following the Laws of Moses (law given by God through Moses). In other words, they pridefully believe they were able to be 'good enough'.
Catholiciism commands adherents to strive and earn eternal life by faithfulness to institutionalized rituals (of a pagan origin, insisting they eat the god of their religion), an obvious appeal to human pride in self.
Mormons refuse to bow to God's sovereignty and in their pride of works believe they can eventually measure up to a standard they believe causes God to owe them godhood, at best, celestial eternal life at least.
The broken and contrite heart God will in no wise turn away. The Jews refused to admit their error and be broken on the contrast. The Catholic refuses to give up on his striving and be broken on the simplicity in Grace, God's Grace in Christ's atonement finality. Mormons refuse to give up the notion that they can achieve what God has always said no man can accomplish, so the Lord Himself came to be with us and die for us and place His life in us ... not by works which we have done, but by His mercy, His Grace we are saved and made a new creation.
The divine sarcasm worked with Nicodemus, apparently. He was finally getting it by the time of the crucifixion. He paid for the expensive oils and spices to anoint the dead body of The Christ. I imagine Jesus blessed Nic with being one of the many who saw The Resurrected Jesus before His ascension.
More than a million Jews in Jerusalem did not get it, probably because their pride stood in the way, and they were slaughtered in 70AD when Titus destroyed the city. The Jews who did allow God's Truth to break them and make them a new creation escaped the city during the nine month Roman Army pause encamped about the city. History records the Christ followers left the city, probably because they believed Jesus's warnings recorded during the Temple Discourse (Luke 21) prior to the Olivet Discourse the evening of that same day (Matthew 24 and Mark 13).
Then why didn’t Jesus call back those who were scandalized and deserting him, and explain that he didn’t really mean it when he said to eat his flesh and drink his blood?
Why was Jesus such an incompetent teacher that he would mislead hundreds of people?