Jesus words are life giving Spirit?
When we focus all of our attention on the flesh of Jesus either by a statue etc, then the real significance of Jesus is missed, and the kinds of objections raised both by ‘the Jews’ and by ostensible disciples quickly surface - namely eat my body and drink my blood when misunderstood becomes a misdirection.
But if flesh does not give life, what does? One of the clearest characteristics of the Spirit in the Old Testament is the giving of life (e.g. Gn. 1:2; Ezk. 37:1ff.; cf. Barrett, HSGT, pp. 18–23).
The Spirit gives life. Jesus says in John 6:63 - the words I have spoken to you are spirit (i.e. they are the product of the life-giving Spirit) and they are life (i.e. Jesus’ words, rightly understood and absorbed, generate life—5:24). To feed on Christ is to feed on Christ’s words, enabled by the Holy Spirit.
Before I was unregenerate unable to hear or understand jesus words and the Spirit gave me life now I can understand and consume Jesus word giving me life
Carson, D. A. (1991).