The Lord's Supper & Interpreting John 6

The question of how we partake of the Lord at the Supper is informed by Jesus' teachings in Jn 6. When Jesus taught "The Bread of Life Discourse", He was not teaching about the Supper. The Supper itself was not the subject of Jesus instruction & yet few can read His words & not immediately connect this discourse to the Supper. John writes not only to incite faith in unbelievers & instruct them that the exercise of faith is like eating & drinking in Christ, but he also writes his gospel after the early church has long settled into its practice of breaking bread & was even then showing disconcerting tendencies to a "sacramentalism" "ex opere operato" - that somehow views the Supper in an almost magical fashion. We, who now eat the Supper, read Jn 6 in light of the Supper. The Discourse of Jn 6 was not preached about the Supper, but we can see that the Supper is about what was preached in Jn 6. The Supper is an occasion in which the faith described in Jn 6 must be exercised. It is striking to see that Jn 6 was preached in the context of the impending Passover. We must not interpret Jn 6 to say that anyone who eats the Supper is by the eating of the Supper, saved. That is sacramentalism. But we can say that when we eat the Supper we are to eat as Jesus teaches us to eat in Jn 6 - an eating which is by faith.