Is the Last Supper Missing in John? --How and Why

Emotions to hold

Sadness remembering Jesus’ suffering
”He broke the bread and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’”
Clinging to Jesus, receiving life from the one we depend on
”I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
Joy celebrating—now washed spotlessly clean!
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
Hope an unimaginably bright future for eternity
”I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

To grasp what Jesus really means when he says
‘Eat my flesh and drink my blood’”
and how these strange sounding words can be, for your, a deep source of life.

v.57: “Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who consumes me will live because of me.”

But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
So the disciples began to say to one another, “No one brought him anything to eat, did they?”
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work.”

Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father,
so the person who eats me will live because of me.

Jesus lived every moment and breathed every breath to obey the will of the Father.
To do the Father’s will was his drink, his meat. It was everything to him.
He did not do anything in his own strength but did everything by the power that flowed from the Father.
He is calling us to relate to him in the same way
This might seem like death, but actually it is the way to life

Why does Jesus use such shocking language?
- Sometimes we are so stuck in one mindset we need to be shocked out of it
Lighthouse story as told by Frank Koch in Proceedings, the magazine of the Naval Institute
- Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on manoeuvres in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch in the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities.
- Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, “Light, bearing on the starboard bow.”
- “Is it steady or moving astern?” the captain called out.
- Lookout replied, “Steady captain,” which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.
- The captain then called to the signalman, “Signal that ship: We are on a collision course, advise you to change course 20 degrees.”
- Back came a signal, “Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees.”
- The captain said, “Send: I’m captain, change course 20 degrees.”
- “I’m a seaman second class,” came the reply. “You had better change course 20 degrees.”
- By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, “Send: I’m a battleship. Change course 20 degrees.”
- Back came the flashing light, “I’m a lighthouse.”
- We changed course.
Jesus intends us to radically change course in our lives.

“Eating and drinking Christ”
Is there anything else that does?
Trusting/Believing Christ
So whatever he means by eating and drinking, it is the same kind of thing as believing because both of them lead to everlasting life.
I am trying to build up a picture here of the images that are used to mean the same thing as eating and drinking.
Coming to Christ
Here, believing and coming are used in a parallel fashion. Their meanings are not identical, but the comparison sheds light on how we should understand each individual image.
obeying Christ’s words and abiding in them.
Four things that result in everlasting life

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves.
The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood resides in me, and I in him.