John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
I think another translation says, "you have no part of me."
What a statement to be made to people who were just getting to like you ! Jesus certainly was not interested in winning a popularity contest. He saw His time on earth as our most valuable visual aid yet, to come to the Father through Him. He did not have time to worry about being popular. He was concerned with giving truth !
Looking at the whole chapter we see this was at a time of Jesus most popular high. He had just fed the 5,000, He had just walked on the water, people who had doubted before of His being the Son of God were now sure, until He said this.
As He was doing all that He did , surely the scribes were pondering the prophesies of old. I know some did not believe , because of the old transcripts. The way they read it, this man could not be the Messiah. Others read and believed. I have a record of the prophesies that Jesus fulfilled , there were 44. This proves that the old testament was beneficial to believers then and is today.
What did they have in the old testament that went along with what He just said in John 6:53 ? What could help them understand that He was the Messiah when He said that ? Well, they ate the lamb, for one thing. The unblemished lamb that was given as a sacrifice for their sins , now He was trying to help them understand He was the lamb to be slain for them.