August 27

Charles and Cathy both make interesting points here. Charles picks up the sense of Jesus' words in verse 63 that it is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. That's what makes this passage so difficult. You have both the flesh eating metaphor (or not a metaphor, as Cathy notes, depending on your theology of holy communion) and then Jesus seeming to contradict himself by noting that flesh is useless. One commentator I read lifted up some ancient commentators' idea that the "flesh" to which Jesus refers here is actually the "Word," (logos in Greek, see the first chapter of John). So another image here is that we eat the Word (verse 63 also, "the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.").
Then there is Peter's wonderful response to his total confusion over what Jesus is trying to get across here. Jesus asks if the difficulty here, or the offensive language about flesh eating, or, per Charles, the idea that Jesus will not lead a political movement, will also send them away. "To whom can we go?" Peter says. A question I have often asked myself.