The eating of this meal is annexed to a great promise made by Jesus Christ. He says that unless we eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, we have no life in us. Conversely, if we partake, then Jesus Christ promises to raise us up at the last day.
“This is a hard saying,” some of His disciples muttered. “Who can hear it?” Only those who to whom it is given – Jesus knew that some of His disciples there did not believe. What did they not believe? The object of their disbelief was His words, which were spirit and life. The flesh profits in no way, the Spirit quickens, and brings to life.
When Jesus points to His words, this is not an invitation for us to look away at words spoken elsewhere, by somebody else. He is talking about His words right there, the words they had just finished stumbling over. And in stumbling over them, they were tripping over eternal life. They were abusing a table that had so many promises on it that it is not possible to see the tablecloth. What are we to do with these promises? We eat them.
Is Jesus inviting us to a superstitious use of the Supper? Not a bit of it – in fact this is precisely what He excludes. The Supper consists of simple bread and wine – and when the Word of Christ accompanies them, they become edible and drinkable words. How do you chew them? How do you swallow them? With eternal life in view, the answer is sola fide, by faith alone. But this is not faith placed in your own faith as the object. It is faith in what Jesus said.