Cannibalism?

So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
John 6:53 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/jhn.6.53.ESV

Understandably, Jesus's hearers were bemused by His talk of eating flesh and drinking blood. That sounds like cannibalism. Thankfully, we don't have to take the Bible literally! We do however have to submit to Jesus's meaning in His words.

So what does Jesus mean? If He's not advocating cannibalism, or transubstantiation, what does He mean? Of course, 2,000 years after His death, burial, resurrection and ascension, we can't literally eat His flesh and drink His blood.

Neither does His literal flesh and blood appear in bread and wine in some kind of magical hocus pocus. The Roman Catholic teaching of transubstantiation isn't Jesus's teaching. So what does Jesus mean?

As always, context is key. Jesus says belief leads to eternal life. We eat bread and wine in remembrance of His body broken for us and blood shed for us.

'Almighty God, how amazing that You would give Your Son to die for sinners like us. Have mercy upon us, in Christ's name we pray, amen'

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