Read John 6:51-58 with your family. It is okay if what Jesus says sounds strange. The people in the early church thought it sounded strange too, and a lot of people thought this meant the early Christians were cannibals! Some really smart people like Justin Martyr, who lived around 150 CE (about 50 years after the Gospel of John was written), stepped up to help those outside the church understand what Jesus was talking about. Christians were NOT cannibals.

Jesus was trying to help people understand that his body while alive was flesh just like everyone else alive today, but after the Resurrection, after he arose again from the dead and went to heaven, his body was spiritual instead of physical. And we as Christians have a spiritual connection to Jesus. When we believe we take Jesus into our hearts and feel the love that Jesus had for everyone. When we believe we take Jesus into bodies and do all the things Jesus asked us to do, like feed people and care of the world.

This is a communion lesson. You might call communion the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist. The name doesn’t make a difference. We still have bread or wafers to eat, and wine or grape juice to drink. We eat real food that doesn’t physically change. What does change is how we think about Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We remember that Jesus told us to eat the bread and drink from the cup because when we take something into our bodies, it becomes a part of us. Jesus wants to be a part of us.